Cataract Surgery Tomorrow

What I’m not worried about

I’m not worried about how well my surgery is going to go, because it’s a minor, 20-minute surgery. The surgeon cuts a slit at the side of the eye, breaks the lens up with lithotripsy (the same procedure used to break up kidney stones), and then sucks it out. Then they put in a (in my case fixed) intraocular lens. Voila, surgery complete.

Nurse covering eye of patient by medical plaster

I’m not worried about coming out of anesthesia, because the anesthesiologist doesn’t put the patient to sleep. They instead use medicines that make the patient zone out, or as they put it, ‘not care’.

In fact, I would find this all an intriguing experience (as I do any medically-related things, including my gallbladder surgery and getting hit by a car.)

What I am worried about

I’m afraid that dissociative anesthetic is not going to be enough. My brain says, “There’s a person. With a knife. At my eye.” I find this edginess strange, because I fall into meditative states while having teeth drilled and pulled. I watch the nurse take my blood. I study pictures of injuries to improve my moulage (casualty simulation) skills. I watched a video of a leg fracture reduction last night. But my eyes — I feel rather protective about my eyes.

I’m going to need to be really dissociated. Like ‘look at the scaly butterflies’ dissociated.

How I’m going to get through it

I figure the first thing is to let the doctor and anesthesiologist know about my misgivings right off: “I’m in a cold, dim basement room and you’re going to hold a scalpel to my eye; this sounds like a bad horror movie. My next move is to scream and grab the scalpel, then make my escape. Is there any way we can prevent this?”

I think this will get me the good drugs.

Bye for now

I won’t be online tomorrow, so wish me luck today!

Starting with a Character Sheet:

Prince Dain
? • Faerie/Oneonta
Role in Story: Male Main Character/Love Interest

Goal: To woo Nina — but then what?

Physical Description: alabaster skin with a bit of a gold tint. Red-gold, wavy hair. No beard or body hair.

Personality: Playful, highly focused but ephemeral. To be in his focus is to be the only person in his life, but he has other things to focus on and he’s just as intense. He seems to be always in the present; commitment isn’t in his vocabulary because it’s not a fae thing. But he keeps coming back to Nina.

Occupation: Prince. What else?

Habits/Mannerisms: He gestures in the air as he talks, as if he’s trying to shape his stories from mist.

Background: a Prince of Faerie. Nowhere near to the throne; considered an eccentric dilettante as he works with craftsmen and creates beautiful wood and metalwork. He also spends a certain amount of time flirting with the border between Faerie and Earth,

Internal Conflicts: The pull toward Nina

External Conflicts: With the woman who wants him back.

Notes:

Brainstorming Characters

Oh, did I mention? I’m working on something new …

I’m working on a new novel, based on an idea I had in graduate school.

In it, librarian Nina meets a Prince of Faerie while he is slipping through her backyard naked. A Fae scorned casts a shadow across their dalliance, and Nina must brave the Faerie realms to rescue Prince Dain. If the landscape of Faerie doesn’t tear her apart, her adversary will. It will take all of Nina’s wits and all of her heart to save her lover.

I have the bare bones of plot; now what?

Now all I have to do is everything, starting with developing the characters. That to me is the place to start because I’m very character and relationship oriented. This is going to be today’s task and it’s going to require off-computer time.

Let me explain — I draft and edit on my computer using Scrivener and I proofread using Pro Writing Aid (now that I have it). I use Atticus for formatting and design covers using Photoshop and Canva.

But when it comes to character design, I’m in a different mode. I write and I write until I have the character developed. I interrogate my characters to find out what my subconscious tells me about the character and what I need to work out.

What do I need to know about Prince Dain?

A character sheet for writing tends to center on basic questions:

Role in story
Appearance
Motivation
Likes and dislikes
Internal and external conflict
Habits and gestures
Background

Which is necessary but not sufficient when writing a supernatural, alien, or other “other” (sentient dogs, etc.) Other things about the character must include how the character interacts with the other (i.e. our) world, which means figuring out the differences between us and them. Thus, character gets intertwined with worldbuilding.

In this case, there is a large body of folklore and stories, and it’s up to me to design this world borrowing from the stories. I know that I will include the traditional trickery/honesty of the fair folk, so: Irish legend, yes; Laurell K Hamilton, no.

From there, who is Prince Dain? This is what I have to find out. I only know at this time that he’s one of the fair folk, he has some sense of royalty, yet is a dilettante who crafts exquisite things and wanders through the crack between worlds, which is in Nina’s back yard. He is somewhat arrogant but charming, and at the beginning of the story very romantic but a bit fatuous. (I want my audience to question romance vs love.) He’s gorgeous, of course (and a ginger, which is one of my weaknesses when I am looking at pure male beauty). Ahhhh…

I’m back now. I need to have some conversations with my characters now.

P.S.

I looked at depositphotos for a male faerie picture. I saw none. So the realm of Faerie is all female like the Amazons, only with flowing robes?

Rain

Rain today

We may get lots of rain today, particularly welcome after a 113 (F) heat index (45 in Celsius). We’re in a 1-3 inch range, and I would like to see a gullywasher where the rain is sheeting off the streets and you can hardly see through the drops.

A few of my favorite rains

I love rain in all its permutation, but here are some of my favorite rains:

Midwestern gullywashers, as stated above. Rain that roars on the rooftop, that causes instant puddles in the gutters. Gone almost as soon as it’s started. On a summer day, when encountering a gullywasher, one should give up trying to find shelter. One must just accept that one will be drenched to the skin. I remember walking barefoot and singing loudly in the storm, knowing that I had found freedom from being well-dressed and well-behaved.
The sunny afternoon rainbow sprinkle of rain. There are clouds bringing rain, yet the sun still takes up the sky, and the combination yields a rainbow if one comes round right.
October evening thunderstorms. I love walking out in October thunderstorms. It takes some good rain gear — I used to have a long wool cloak with a hood that negates most of the rain. October thunderstorms are moody and romantic, the Midwestern US version of a stroll across the moors.
Light rains in April which green up the grasses and invite the daffodils to awaken.

The western states need rain

The American West is in what is called a “super-drought”. It has not rained at all in a few places for a couple years. Wildfires burn in several states. I cry when I think of those places, and I hope they will be rained upon, making their reservoirs fill and their fires extinguish. If we could get a handle of this global warming (hint: corporations pick a reasonable level of profit and make their processes cleaner) we might have a chance.

So when I watch the rain today I will pray (which I seldom do) that the West sees an abundance of rain and that we as humans see an abundance of wisdom that will help us make the decisions that will stem global warming.

Heat Wave in Rural Missouri

The sun burns sagging porches,
bleaching petunias and salvia.
The afternoon gasps its last.
From my window, nothing stirs –
I alone live, breathe.

Swooning,
I spy you strolling through a deluge of rain,
bearing me pansies and muguet,
your bowler and grey linen suit still crisp,
the last mirage before I fade – 

Knowing I exaggerate, and my demise
is not imminent in this air-cooled room
does not detract from my reverie.

The summer winds down …

I’m privileged

Being a professor means that I get a wide-open summer (well, if you subtract internship time and setting up classes for fall.) Most people don’t get that, but it’s part of the reason I became a professor. It’s a privilege I will accept gladly.

I needed the break

After a school year of drastic COVID mitigations, life not normal, lack of a social life, talking to nobody, the summer was welcome. Unfortunately, with the Delta variant, we may go back to that soon. But at least I had this summer to recover.

I admit I’m been a bit of a hermit, writing/editing and staying cool. But it’s been a good, relaxing summer, and I’m grateful I had it at the right time.

Two weeks left

I don’t know how summer went by so fast — I’m now two weeks out from the beginning of semester meetings. I’m contemplating taking these last days napping and watching British ambulance shows on YouTube. I probably won’t do much of that, because there are projects I want to do. (Really? I can’t think of any.)

Whatever I do, I plan to make the most of these few days, and be ready for the fall semester.

In Case You Forgot …

The story can be found here

I’m Back!

I spent the last couple days on hiatus because of some heavy duty editing I have had to do on my back catalog. Sooner or later I will publish them if it’s the last thing I do! Still have some to edit.

I will write something new. Maybe a short story. Maybe a novel. I need to write something new or else I’ll go crazy.

Time to go edit.

Another edit

Staring at my keyboard

I have a lot of editing to do today. Apparently I have a lot of idiosyncratic punctuation, using em-dashes instead of ellipses. I blame Emily Dickinson for that.

I never saw a Moor--
I never saw the Sea--
Yet know I how the Heather looks
And what a Billow be.

I never spoke with God
Nor visited in Heaven--
Yet certain am I of the spot
As if the Checks were given--
 -- Emily Dickinson

I just always thought em-dashes are for shorter, faster, more dramatic pauses. Not true, I guess. Lots of editing in my future.

I’m weary of editing

I really am tired of editing. I know it’s necessary, but darn, this is getting tiring. I want to go forward, but I keep being pulled backward. I’m hoping a search/replace takes care of most of the problem.

Going forward

I’m contemplating writing something new in the Archetype series — this would involve the Archetype civil war and a young human woman who has lie detection as a talent. The woman, Leah, also seems to be present at certain important episodes of Archetype life to represent The Balance. She becomes part of the unfolding history.

But first, editing.

Kel and Brother Coyote is Live!

Kel Beemer is an intergalactic shipper. She has three rules: no passengers, no politics, and no restricted planets. When Brother Coyote hires the ship, Kel finds out he’s broken all three of the rules. Then Kel gets infected with a symbiote on Ridgeway III and she and Coyote discover a plot to take over the beauty planet. She and Brother Coyote must work together to save the planet — and the universe.

You can read it here. The first 3 episodes are free.

Have fun!