Writing -- not so much

[delphipsmith]

Have been doing lots of writing but all of it, alas, work-related >:P Got my crits in to my online writing group for October -- barely, on the 31st -- but one got short-critted so it won't count (grrrrrr). I did sign up for NaNoWriMo; current word count is a big fat '0' (hiss boo). I slavishly followed the rules about not starting until 12:01 am Nov 1 to the point that I didn't even have a plot, which put me a bit behind. Saturday night I came up with something at the symphony (Beethoven really does make you smarter, as does Rachmaninoff apparently) but haven't had a chance to BIC-HOK-TAM yet. Why, you ask, am I not doing same at this moment? Excellent question.

On the reading front, I've had a few tasty things to beta (why is it 'beta' in the world of fanfic? why not 'proofread' or 'edit' like it is in the entire rest of the writing world?? why???). I also finally finished an item that's been on my currently-reading list for yonks: Preludes and Nocturnes, volume 1 of Neil Gaiman's Sandman series. Mostly I wanted to read it because of Morpheus' Library of Dream, which contains never-written books by real authors (e.g., Road Trips to the Emerald City by L. Frank Baum and Alice's Journey Behind the Moon by Lewis Carroll). The Library hasn't turned up yet but I enjoyed the stories -- they reminded me of the old Mystery Comics Digest I used to devour as a kid, crammed with swamp monsters, witches, ancient Chinese curses, possessed drums and all manner of creepinesses. Morpheus is a strangely sympathetic character, rather like Elric of Melniboné. I shall proceed with the next volume and hope the Library makes an appearance.

Comments

[ladyoneill.livejournal.com]

Gaiman is a god and Sandman is wonderful. The story gets better and better, especially as it pulls away from DC comics and creates its own universe. The first book is peppered with DC comics characters but not so much after that, and wait'll you meet Death! Best character ever! This is the first comic to win a Hugo? Nebula? some award that before that only went to actual books. I came into it with issue 19 and never regretted spending a small fortune (pre ebay days, so hard to find, too) on the previous 18.

Gaiman also created the best Lucifer ever who was spun off into his own 75 issue comic.

[were-duck.livejournal.com]

Sandman is epic and great, you will love it! And yes, the library does make an appearance, though I'm not sure that much happens there in the first book.