The World Upside Down

Trivia:  The cats are upset.  On Thursday, their favorite lounging chairs went out the door to be recovered.  The monkeys have uncomfortable replacement chairs (in comparison), but cats don't do uncomfortable.  Worse, they can't curl up in the same chair and sleep all afternoon.  They don't fit.  -- Monkeys don't have to have wings to be evil in some universes.

Reading:  I've given up on Barbara Hambly's Traveling with Vampires.  The bookmark remained stuck at page 60-something.  I scanned a couple chapters, but the book didn't draw me back in.

So, what goes wrong when a favorite author writes a book you can't read to the end?  I'm not looking for the "wow" factor -- when you end up reading until 2-3 in the morning because you can't put the story down.  All I want is an enjoyable read to give me a break from writing, cooking, TV, and whatever.  One thing:  I'm not into the vampire thing -- good or bad or both.  

I've been thinking about it for a day and came to the conclusion it was the characters.  They all went in the cliche column.  

Must say in the positive column, train travel added a different dimension [in contrast to carriages], but she didn't exploit the captivity of traveling by train.  Corsets presented another problem.  The character struggles with them, but avante guarde Edwardian ladies did without them.  So, the protagonists ran all over Europe (Turkey included) chasing vampires and their henchmen (women).  Eeh.


Now I have to find something else to read along with Rutherfurd's The Forest.  Maybe Kootz's Odd? 


(Aren't I supposed to be reading young adults and/or fantasy?  I'll have to settle for another episode of the Omega Factor [old British TV program].)


Writing:  Emma and crew are stuck in a smelly cell, waiting to be rescued.  I have to flesh out the spriggen nastiness, but that'll probably end up after I finish the draft.  At this point, I want to get an ending on the book.


Tangled?  It's still getting chopped.  


One of my critiquers on this made a comment that changed my perspective on my Half-Elven.  I decided to concentrate on Kerry (a child) because she was the vulnerable member of the cast.  She still is, but the emphasis of the books is more abstract -- dealing with societal changes.  Yeah.  Really, marketable, huh?


Whatever, now I'm going back, yet again, and changing things.  Isn't learning wonderful?


Progress:  Not much.  I'm playing as much solitaire as I'm writing.  (Not counting the blog.)