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This is a totally random post. May take sharp left turns. Or right ones. Enjoy the ride.
Ephiny
I realize I've seriously fallen down on Ephiny's Training Diary. Working Student had to quit because of overwhelming academic commitments, which removed the structure from that project. We have continued the process, slowed down by CFS, weather, and assorted farp, but the slowdown has had method in its madness. Ephiny has been processing; I've been working her when she asks, and doing various things: groundwork, wearing of tack, longeing, and starting this month, Walkies Outside The Herd. ( Adventures in Energy Management )
I talked to S about this today. Couldn't find the funds for a lesson (I have a couple of openings for new or returning Mentees--sign up by email or in comments), but I watched![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
tcastleb's and touched base with S afterwards. If and when the wherewithal is available, I'll back Ephiny with S's help. She's ready. I got that message this week. It's a feeling one gets. The work's going well, the horse has her ducks in a row, it's time. I want to do a little more with wearing of tack, some messing around while she's in it, and get her fully comfortable with bridle and bit (she's worn them but not consistently). And we'll be there. S wants to do what we did with Camilla: groundwork that segues into me on her back. Which is exactly what I was thinking, too.
Pooka Blows My Tiny Little Mind
Pooka meanwhile has been demonstrating that he may not be ostentatiously Evil like ze keed, or all drama queen like Camilla, but he too is Not The Standard Issue. I've done some thinking about things in general, not just horses, and looking back at the virtual landscape of the past half-year, I see one reason after another for him to not want lessons. If it's not weather or lack of cash, it's him springing a leak. Ho-kay, so, is he telling me something? ( Yes, I think he is. )
That's where we are now. Pooka wants to be a trail pony. It's a useful skill and he wants it. Alternating with ring work that's actually getting somewhere. And it's making me remember who I really am, what I can really do--and that's paying off big time with the Girlz, because they need that confident, experienced, un-messed-up me.
Fiction Brain, Back at Last
I think that applies to the fiction, too. The past few years have been brutal and I've fought through massive blockage and a whole lot of hating on everything I managed to scrape out through the blocks. There have been a few spurts of good times--last fall's Attack Novel, which got halfway through before I fell apart again, being the most notable--but mostly it's been all about the suckage.
In the past couple of weeks, I've been coming up with idea after idea. Working on proposals. Having a blast with a couple of Top-Sekrit Projekts that I will talk about in time, don't worry. Jogging along slowly with story for the second Shadow Conspiracy volume--and falling in love with the Victorian Age and its Steampunk variations.
I never cared much for that era. I was always into the ancients and the Middle Ages. More modern stuff just didn't do it for me. But one way and another, thanks to this crazy-delightful shared world and a few other developments in the past several months, I have myself a new research baby and I am having so. Much. Fun.
Best part, really, is that the way publishing has changed, I'm no longer bound by what will sell to the Big Six. I hope these projects will, because that's still where the living wages are, but if they don't, there are other ways to get the work out there. Starting with Book View Cafe, which is working on a new, streamlined, much more accessible system.
So, lots of thinky thoughts there, and lots of ideas. Just the way we like it.
Online Classes--Beta-Testers Ho!
Yes, finally! I'm lining myself up to get a working model of an online class. I have a list of people who said they'd like to help beta-test. This is free--if you decide it's worth something, I have PayPal, but if you'd like to help me get a system together that really works, comment or email. I'll be doing it through an lj filter to start with, as it's the simplest way and the format is familiar to all of us. Subject: Plotting. Come and play!
Ephiny
I realize I've seriously fallen down on Ephiny's Training Diary. Working Student had to quit because of overwhelming academic commitments, which removed the structure from that project. We have continued the process, slowed down by CFS, weather, and assorted farp, but the slowdown has had method in its madness. Ephiny has been processing; I've been working her when she asks, and doing various things: groundwork, wearing of tack, longeing, and starting this month, Walkies Outside The Herd. ( Adventures in Energy Management )
I talked to S about this today. Couldn't find the funds for a lesson (I have a couple of openings for new or returning Mentees--sign up by email or in comments), but I watched
tcastleb's and touched base with S afterwards. If and when the wherewithal is available, I'll back Ephiny with S's help. She's ready. I got that message this week. It's a feeling one gets. The work's going well, the horse has her ducks in a row, it's time. I want to do a little more with wearing of tack, some messing around while she's in it, and get her fully comfortable with bridle and bit (she's worn them but not consistently). And we'll be there. S wants to do what we did with Camilla: groundwork that segues into me on her back. Which is exactly what I was thinking, too.Pooka Blows My Tiny Little Mind
Pooka meanwhile has been demonstrating that he may not be ostentatiously Evil like ze keed, or all drama queen like Camilla, but he too is Not The Standard Issue. I've done some thinking about things in general, not just horses, and looking back at the virtual landscape of the past half-year, I see one reason after another for him to not want lessons. If it's not weather or lack of cash, it's him springing a leak. Ho-kay, so, is he telling me something? ( Yes, I think he is. )
That's where we are now. Pooka wants to be a trail pony. It's a useful skill and he wants it. Alternating with ring work that's actually getting somewhere. And it's making me remember who I really am, what I can really do--and that's paying off big time with the Girlz, because they need that confident, experienced, un-messed-up me.
Fiction Brain, Back at Last
I think that applies to the fiction, too. The past few years have been brutal and I've fought through massive blockage and a whole lot of hating on everything I managed to scrape out through the blocks. There have been a few spurts of good times--last fall's Attack Novel, which got halfway through before I fell apart again, being the most notable--but mostly it's been all about the suckage.
In the past couple of weeks, I've been coming up with idea after idea. Working on proposals. Having a blast with a couple of Top-Sekrit Projekts that I will talk about in time, don't worry. Jogging along slowly with story for the second Shadow Conspiracy volume--and falling in love with the Victorian Age and its Steampunk variations.
I never cared much for that era. I was always into the ancients and the Middle Ages. More modern stuff just didn't do it for me. But one way and another, thanks to this crazy-delightful shared world and a few other developments in the past several months, I have myself a new research baby and I am having so. Much. Fun.
Best part, really, is that the way publishing has changed, I'm no longer bound by what will sell to the Big Six. I hope these projects will, because that's still where the living wages are, but if they don't, there are other ways to get the work out there. Starting with Book View Cafe, which is working on a new, streamlined, much more accessible system.
So, lots of thinky thoughts there, and lots of ideas. Just the way we like it.
Online Classes--Beta-Testers Ho!
Yes, finally! I'm lining myself up to get a working model of an online class. I have a list of people who said they'd like to help beta-test. This is free--if you decide it's worth something, I have PayPal, but if you'd like to help me get a system together that really works, comment or email. I'll be doing it through an lj filter to start with, as it's the simplest way and the format is familiar to all of us. Subject: Plotting. Come and play!
