So March hasn't been awful, but I did get sick. AGAIN. This time I gave it to my husband, and now he thinks he's at death's door. Really, men and illness... what babies. We girls still have to get up and do chores when we're sick, and no one takes care of us. Ha! Babies, the lot of 'em!
And just for that, take THIS, world!
Goddamn, I gotta see this. I'm dying just watching the trailer.
Anyway, I'm doing much better now though I'm behind on my promo posts for this month's Backlist Bonanza books. I'll be doing that next weekend since I also have a three-day weekend awaiting my pleasure, and that means lots of time to spend on more important things than the day job. I mean, seriously. The day job is just there to pay the bills. Mental and emotional health? Writing's it for me. And that's what matters more.
Compline is coming to a close. I'm down to two final chapters, and it'll be a round of rewrites and revisions followed by edits. I've amassed a bunch of scattered notes on what needs to be done for the next stage, and I'm looking forward to it.
As always, the book will be an oddball, which is par for the course when it comes to my stuff. I write what I want to read, and while the audience out there is miniscule, there are still folks who either enjoy the same stuff I do or are willing to take a chance. This book is a retelling of the Pied Piper folktale, and it's not as straightforward as what I've done with Voices in the Briars, which is a retelling of "Bluebeard".
Compline is more like a breaking apart and then rebuilding of the Pied Piper folktale. If you're familiar with the original story, you'll be able to pick out significant elements from it, which I've reworked into a completely original plot. It was definitely tougher to write than Voices in the Briars, but, hell, I'm glad I took it on since "The Pied Piper of Hamelin" is one of my favorite folktales ever.
I have one more fairy tale retelling in the pipeline: The Shadow Groom, which is my take on the Brothers Grimm's "The Story of the Youth Who Went Forth to Learn What Fear Was". I've only known this story as "The Boy Who Did Not Know How to Shudder" as a kid, but I love the story and can't wait to work on it. Maybe there'll be more fairy tale retellings after that, but I haven't thought about it yet. Still too many books already on my plate through next year. Gotta rein myself in before I do myself some serious harm.
I don't follow film awards like I used to way, way in the past, but I kept a close eye on this year's Academy Awards for one reason only: the Best Animated Film award. I desperately wanted Flow to win, and it did! I not only love that film so much that I bought my own copy, but its success really gives hope to so many visionaries and creatives out there whose only stumbling block is the tools available to them.
It's the classic tale of the scrappy underdog triumphing against the odds.
To think that a small independent film from Latvia would overtake behemoths with bigger budgets and bigger ticket sales -- it's a great feeling, and I've never been this excited for the future of animation.
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