Tuesday, April 02, 2002
I'm writing this in Microsoft Word, because Blogger is currently refusing to talk to my computer. That's been happening a lot lately, actually, as blogmania seems to have started putting a squeeze on the service. I have no idea exactly when this will be posted (it's currently 12:52 a.m. in Birmingham). But at least this way I can run a spell check. I'd go to Blogger Pro, but I've been told by Neil Gaiman it's even worse than the regular, free Blogger.
I was reading the Journal of Paleontology earlier tonight, upon which one can usually depend on for fairly dry titles. But here's an unusual gem: "Weird things from the Middle Ordovician of North America interpreted as conularid fragments," by Drs. Jeffery G. Richardson and Loren E. Babcock (Ohio State). Weird things. I wonder if we could ever actually formulate a means of quantifying weird? Or even defining it, without resorting to a definition that relies upon the a priori recognition of a normal state? Not that I want anyone to get the idea that I disapprove of the title. I think it's marvelous. I'm just in an annoyingly nit-picky mood tonight.
Most of the day was spent at the library, doing research for Low Red Moon. But I also spent about half an hour in the Linn Henley wing, working on my ink-and-paper journal, which has gotten somewhat behind this week. When I was a kid, before they built the new library, this room was the center of the Birmingham Public Library. It appears in Chapter Two of Threshold, the huge room with the gorgeous mythological murals. Today someone was sitting in my usual spot beneath Shaharazade, so I sat on the other side of the room, beneath Isis and Rameses II.
I did make some significant progress with the plot today. Both Silk and Threshold are very much grounded in Birmingham, giving them a very focused, almost claustrophobic "unity of place." Low Red Moon will be different. The first third will be set here (except for one chapter in Atlanta), but then the characters will begin a northeastward flight, landing them in Stonington, CT, Providence, RI, and, ultimately, somewhere near Ipswich, MA. So you might say I'm broadening my horizons. It's extremely intimidating, though, and I'm planning a road trip for late April to trace the route from Birmingham to Ipswich. I need to wait until there's no longer any serious threat of snow, but not so long that the weather in the Northeast gets too warm. I'll be taking a bezillion digital pictures. Oh, and making these posts from the road.
My allergies are giving me fits and I'm extremely sleepy, which might mean I can actually sleep tonight. See you later.
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