I line-edited everything I reasonably could out of the 7,700 word story and it's now... [drumroll]... 7,500. Not a giant drop, right? I'm going to request help from the instructors on this one as revision is one of my larger hurdles to clear.
Today, my Granny Greene story runs the gauntlet and this is one where I tried to see everything through the narrator's eyes and colored with her perception. I don't really care if the story works or not at this point in the Clarion final week. I want to know if I succeeded in removing the distance between reader and POV character.
Our best cat goes into the vet's office this morning. Greg says he's exhibiting some worrisome symptoms. The vet thinks it may be simply asthma, which can be controlled. I'm mega-worried. The last time we had a cat that kept acting like it was trying to cough up a hairball was Charcoal and he died of FL.
Boris is the best of cats. He's our Alpha cat. He's the bread eating, sit-up-and-beg and comes-when-he's-called cat. This is a cat that I would grant immortality to if it were within my powers to do so. I refuse to lose this cat. I'd gladly sacrifice the other three in his place.
The overall concensus of the last story written is that the descriptions are good but the dialect was uneven and made reading difficult and the character was a bitch. I intended for her to be a WITCH. Unfortunately, I hadn't built sympathy for her and killing a faithful husband of many years because she caught him cheating on her was not a sufficient motivation. These are fixable things. But in the meantime, I'm still revising the Stetson story and I went back and wrote the one scene I'd avoided writing and then killed a few of my children. [Not literally -- this is a reference to cutting some of the best lines/scenes.]
In happier news, it appears Boris has tapeworms but is otherwise fine thus far. Blood work results are not yet in but it's looking good thus far. Tapeworms are much easier to eliminate that other nasty diseases or physical ailments.
Karen, Susannah, and I went to Meijer after a short side trip to the Administration building so they could both take care of a couple of things before closing. Karen and I left Susannah at Meijer and went across the stree to Kroger and then the Mall. Karen found what she was searching for but I could not find Handeze gloves in a size small. I did, howe er find shoes I would have bought if they'd had them in my size. They were Nikes and they where bright silver moon boot-like. Perfect for SF conventions. On sale for $19.99, which is a big drop from their original $79.99 price. Alas, they were too small and thus I may actually be able to get everything into my car when it's time to head home.
I'm riding an emotional roller coaster again. I don't want Clarion to end. I want to go home.
Unlike others, I haven't really formed strong bonds here. I don't drink. I'm not into movies because I prefer closed captioning at home. I don't play Mafia because I'd ruin it for everyone else. I'm a killjoy. However, I've written more stories here than I've written in the previous six months at home and I THINK I'm learning. I haven't put it all together yet... but I'm struggling to achieve that goal and I can see areas of improvement. I'd like more opportunity(ies) to learn. But I only get one Clarion slot and after that ends, I have to find other sources. I don't know where I can find any other sources. It's discouraging to write in a vacuum.