Below are the 10 most recent journal entries recorded in mindseas' LiveJournal:

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Thursday, July 9th, 2009
2:37 pm	My Report Writing: I've been revising Tara again, sort of quilting pieces of old drafts together with the new ideas that had come up in the last year or so. And not worrying for the time being about whether it will actually fit together well. Reading: Mostly racehorse bios in preparation for the second draft of Perikrone. Programs: Galactic history revision has reached the 100,000 year mark, with 20,000 more years to go. Supplies: Index cards, white and pastel, for keeping tabs of galactic emperors and deep-level racehorses. Real Life: This morning I scooped up the robin Pif was playing with in the living room and set it free. It seemed frightened, but unhurt. The morning glories are popping out everywhere. (2 Comments |Comment about this)
Saturday, June 27th, 2009
4:51 pm	A Happy Occasion I'm often drawn from the computer by the clucking of a wild turkey in the backyard. Sometimes they are scolding a cat, or trying to figure out the fence I put up around the pond to keep the neighbor's toddler safely away from the water. Today I looked out to behold a splendid sight--a turkey hen attended by a cloud of nine newly-hatched chicks. Unfortunately, two additional chicks were on the other side of the fence from mother and siblings... and so was one of the cats. I rushed down, but my assistance wasn't required. The cat had already decided to retire, and the two chicks managed to wriggle under the fence and run after the others. If my knowledge of peafowl is any indication, the chicks will already be fluttering up into a low roost for the night. Still, I wonder how safe they will be with the foxes about. The hen seemed unaware that she had nearly left the two behind as she crossed our yard and headed into the woods. (6 Comments |Comment about this)
Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009
2:22 pm	What I've Been Doing My big garden project this year has been the pond, now completed and home to seven goldfish. When I first completed the pond, both the wild turkey and the fox cub showed up in the back yard on the same afternoon, as if to check things out. I'm very happy with my fountain, although Ben and I do have plans to add additional features. I go out three times a day to feed the fish. On the writing front, I completed twelve days of a "Flash Fiction Boot Camp" given by Flash Me Magazine. For one of the exercises, I wrote a flash version of Tara. Presently I'm reading some horse racing books as inspiration for a revision of Perikrone, but most of my creative energy has been channeled into my program for the revision of galactic history. This will rewrite the list of emperors and empresses and some major events of the galactic empire. All of my writing is on hold until this work is done, because names of many minor characters may change. As of last night, I had progressed through 20,000 years out of 120,000. This morning I awoke to find my program broken! It spewed out crazy stuff. Luckily I was able to restore it from my most recent backup. *sighs with relief* Bonniecon has been tentatively slated for the second week of October. I hope that will work with everyone's schedules. (4 Comments |Comment about this)
Sunday, June 7th, 2009
1:10 pm	Artwork My story illustrations are up at The Future Fire. Take a look. (6 Comments |Comment about this)
Wednesday, May 20th, 2009
7:31 pm	Fox Cub! As I looked out my bedroom window, I caught a flash of red-orange from the woods. The fox! I'd seen him (or her) the other day when a wild turkey sounded the alarm, the pelt all fiery in the sunlight, but wasn't fast enough to snap a picture. Also, there have been a lot of fox noise in the night recently. I ran out with my camera and didn't hesitate this time. Here you can see the patch of red-orange fur behind Louise's irises as the fox heads toward the shed. The fox passed behind the shed and emerged on the other side as I crept around the wisteria. Here he's snuffling on the ground. But a big surprise. This is not the fox I saw the other day. It's a cub. After a moment, he seemed to get wind of me. And ran off. (4 Comments |Comment about this)
Thursday, May 7th, 2009
2:44 pm	Getting There To offset the negative impression of my dream of a few nights ago, I offer last night's dream, also metaphorical. I and a friend and my mother were trying to get someplace within a vast complex (sort of like the opening scene of Perikrone), but the person giving us directions was very vague about which way to go. The three of us reached a splitting of hallways, one continuing along as a sort of arcade with shops, while the other turned into an ice cavern. The two branches ran parallel, and I knew that either route would be all right to take, but there were many other twists and turns afterward that hadn't been explained at all. My mother said, "We'll never get there," and she left us. My friend and I went on. Somehow, though we were just guessing, we reached our destination! Connie sat at a table there. She greeted me warmly. (2 Comments |Comment about this)
Friday, May 1st, 2009
1:13 pm	Forty-Seven My kids have been encouraging me to submit more. I'm up to forty-seven submissions for the year. No acceptances so far--I'd let you know. But my son had his first technical paper accepted for a conference in Rome, and he's going there in June. I'm thrilled about that. Aside from submitting stuff, I've been spending more time outside, running and gardening. Today is drizzly. Ben and I had a morning run, but I've decided not to garden in the muck. Yesterday I saw the first goslings of the season. (4 Comments |Comment about this)
Monday, March 30th, 2009
1:40 pm	Idea Fruit In my pink composition book, where I also keep tabs of my submissions, I have a somewhat crowded list of ideas that I plan to turn into stories someday. A few days ago, I picked out one of these ideas--suppose the divine right of kings was a real thing--and started to write. I can't recall now exactly what triggered my decision to choose this idea, which had sat in the book for a year or two. I wonder if ideas are like fruits that all ripen in their own time? (2 Comments |Comment about this)
Saturday, March 28th, 2009
12:32 pm	In the Trough Only small things in the queue right now... showed my space battle program to Ben, and he said he'd like to make it graphical. That should be fun! Thought of a short story yesterday. Will try to write it between programs. Updated the pictures of my racing team to match how they finally turned out in the novel. Still practicing my viola. Maybe in another seven years I won't scare the cats half so badly. I've begun to do some gardening, as well as digging hole for the fountain. Ben helped. Almost went to a breakfast gathering with my running acquaintances, but I suddenly thought of something I had to do today and went home instead... then found out the thing was tomorrow. Now to water the plants and check on the garden in Ben's room. He's trying hydroponics and he's away for the weekend. (6 Comments |Comment about this)
Wednesday, March 25th, 2009
1:46 pm	Finish Line Yesterday evening I finished the first draft of my YA galactic empire horse racing novel at 63,731 words. I can't remember ever having my programs and writing mesh so well as they did for this story. Spewing out different possible versions of the key races in the story gave me intense delight. Now to rest a few days before the read through. I should be doing my taxes. In other news, our crocuses are out: Ben and I were out for an early morning run on the towpath, which looked like a golden road in the rising sun. (Comment about this)