Chicks-n-Scratching

Archive for the ‘Musings’ Category

So, I promised something non-political this week. That’s hard, but I did promise. And I thought about doing spam again, mostly because I just cleaned 493 spam messages out of the inbox (and while I wish I was making that number up, I’m not). But we’ve done that.

So we’re doing something fun. You all get to WTF me.

I’m working on a WIP I’m calling, rather tongue-in-cheek, the mystery-were. It received this name because I’m not telling people what the beastie part of my were is. There are.. um.. aside from me, 4 people who know. I brainstormed the idea with two of them, and ran the first couple of thousand words through one of them. The fourth one is my BFF, so she knows eeeeeverything.

Anyway, here’s the deal. Willem, my were-dude, is Dutch. He was marooned on the Australia coast in the mid 1600s (no, really. I have back story and research that explains this. I DO.). In any case, he runs afoul of the locals and gets himself cursed into a were.

So here’s where it gets fun – guess. Guess what my mystery-were is. I will give you a hint – it isn’t anything inanimate (at one point, were-boomerang or were-Ayers-Rock were suggested). So, knowing that it is an actual beastie, and not something inanimate, what do you think my mystery-were is?

Who knows, I might even tell you if you guess correctly.

Nah.

Sunday night, at around 10:45 Eastern time, the House passed the Health Care Overhaul bill.  It had some changes and amendments that make it a bit different from the Senate version passed last fall, so the Senate will still need to do their thing on those sections, but the underlying legislation is a done deal.  But what does it MEAN?

We’ve heard a lot of talk about costs to taxpayers, costs to consumers, benefits to individuals, concern for small businesses. Unfortunately, it’s hard for the average Joe (or Jane) to make any sense of such a huge, conflicting mass of information. The politics definitely get in the way of understanding in this case.

So, I thought I’d take a moment to give you some of the basics. Some good, some not so good, aspects of the health care reform legislation. I’ll tell you up front I think our health care system is broken, badly broken.  I’m not at all sure this legislation will “fix” or even “improve” health care overall. But since I’m not in the business of prognostication, I don’t expect to know if it will “fix” things. I’m willing to give it a chance.

So, here’s some basic info on what health care reform means for actual people.

What’s in the bill?

1. An individual mandate: all individuals must have insurance by 2014 or pay a $695 annual fine. This is like the mandatory car insurance thing – if you don’t have insurance, you pay the uninsured motorist fee, at least here in VA. Same deal. There are exceptions for the extremely poor.

2. Expands Medicaid for US citizens and legal immigrants; illegal immigrants are not eligible for Medicaid.

3. Closes the Medicare prescription plan “donut hole” by 2020.  If you aren’t familiar with this, the Medicare prescription plan covers costs of prescriptions up to a point, then cuts off until an out-of-pocket limit is reached, when the coverage kicks in again. The gap between the first limit and the out-of-pocket limit is referred to as the donut hole.

4. Requires that employers with more than 50 employees offer insurance to employees or face a fine of up to $2000 per employee per year. The fine is designed to offset government subsidies which will help employees pay for coverage.

5. Individuals and families making up to 400% of the US poverty level are eligible for graduated subsidies to help pay for insurance coverage. The current poverty line for a family of 4 is around $22,500. This means that subsidies would be available for families making up through around $90,000.

6. New health care “exchanges” are designed to create bigger risk pools and create competition for insurance policies.  The idea is that these exchanges will allow individuals more choice and will encourage competitive pricing by the insurers.

7. Starting in 2014, insurers will no longer be able to deny anyone based on preexisting conditions. Within 6 months of enactment, insurance companies will no longer be able to deny coverage to children based on preexisting conditions.

8. Parents will be able to carry their children on their insurance policies until age 26, provided those children do not have access to plans through their employer.

What’s NOT in the bill?

1. Government-run health care (aside from the changes to Medicare/Medicaid, which are existing programs). This plan does not put in place anything resembling the national health care plans of Europe, Canada, Costa Rica, or other similar plans.

2. Funding for abortion. The bill segregates tax payer money from private insurance. Subsidies from the US government cannot be used to pay for premiums that fund abortions.* No insurance plan will be required to provide abortion coverage.

3. Increased access for illegal immigrants.  Illegal immigrants will not be allowed to buy insurance on the exchanges, even if they use entirely their own money.  The exchanges are closed to illegal immigrants.

4. Universal prescription drug coverage. Nope. Not in there.

5. Reductions in premiums for existing insured. The vast majority of people who currently have insurance will not see a reduction in premiums. What you, theoretically, should see, is a reduction in increases.

*There is a separate Executive Order which allows for use of those funds to pay for abortion in the case of rape, incest, or for the health of the mother. This is the source of a significant firestorm. Pro-choice groups dislike it because it puts limits on abortion, Pro-life groups dislike it because it doesn’t ban all use of taxpayer funds for abortion. The order itself reflects existing law, so this is not anything new in the debate.

I hope that helps you get some of the idea about what is and is not in this bill.  In terms of cost, the estimated cost is around $940 billion over ten years, which is, theoretically, supposed to be paid for from three main sources. First, right now Medicaid/Medicare tax excludes unearned income. Starting in 2012 for families making more than $250,000/yr that will no longer be the case. Second, a tanning tax. No, I’m not making that up. There will be a 10% excise tax on tanning services. Third, an excise tax starting in 2018 on “Cadillac” plans – that is, plans that exceed $27,500 in cost each year for a family (this doesn’t include vision or dental benefits).

So that’s the basics. If you want more info, here are a few reference links: NPR’s Consumer’s Guide to HCR; The Examiner’s summary; MSNBC coverage; Wall Street Journal coverage; the CBS News breakdown; and the West Wing Report blog summary.  I’d have included a Fox link for contents of the bill, but I couldn’t find one. I found any number of articles on the political repercussions for the Dems having now passed it, but nothing on the actual contents of the bill.  If anyone finds a link for that, let me know and I’ll include it.

Yes, I know. I usually do WTF Wednesday – and, truly, there is much to WTF about. But this week I want to do something a little different. I want to share with you some of the things I’ve found wandering around on the internet doing research for my writing.

Something cool I found doing research for Trusting Destiny is the site for the Ransom Center at the University of Texas. It’s a ridiculously awesome collection of materials from a Gutenberg Bible and a web exhibition of Lewis Carroll work to film holdings and information.  There’s amazing stuff here.

In the course of working on the Mercy serial and a couple of SF pieces, I found the Hubble Site and it’s jaw-dropping collection of pics from the Hubble.

Ms. Menozzi turned me on (ha) to this NSFW site celebrating naked men. Inspiration. That counts as research, right?

Emily Ryan-Davis pointed me toward Albannach when we were doing research for a piece we’re writing together.  Their music has now become some of my go-to for mood.

Finally, I found the Encyclopedia Mythica some time ago and it is invaluable for information on mythology of all types. I can get ideas for stories just by poking around to see what mythology and mythological figures catch my eye.

What are some of your favorite research finds?

This week I sat down and went through my more spamiferous email accounts and the pending comments for this site (I generally do this once a week). On this site there were 189 spam messages. Of which, 28 were caught by the spam filter. In each of the two yahoo accounts I still have left over from ages ago and which are only REALLY used by distant family members, I had a total of 212 spam messages.

Let’s do some basic math here, shall we. Three accounts. 401 spam messages among them.

While I have to admit that this week’s load for the site was heavier than usual (I have no idea why – usually it’s about half what it was this week), the yahoo accounts are about average.

And you’d think, what with over 400 spam messages, that I’d see some variety. But there isn’t. As far as I can tell, we (and I) get spam in one of four varieties. The first category is pRon. Sex tapes for any celebrity you can think of (and, btw, this just tells me one should never, ever make tapes of oneself having sex if you don’t want it plastered all over the internet), anime, kinks, toys, you name it, if it has to do with porn, there’s spam.

Intersecting with that, but by no means totally overlapping it, is the second category of spam: drugs. These seem to be mainly either erectile dysfunction or depression drugs (I suspect these two might be related), but occasionally you’ll get cholesterol drugs or something else just to add some variety to your druggy spam.

The third category I see is designer (knockoff) accessories. Handbags for the most part, but occasionally jewelry/watches. Evidently while hubby is searching out his awesome deal on Viagra and whacking to porn (because the porn is nearly universally guy porn – not much girl porn included in the spam I see), I’m supposed to be spending our hard-earned cash (and credit!) on bad designer knockoffs.

Which brings us to the fourth category- one which I suspect is predicated on us all falling victim to the first three categories – the money spam. This comes in two varieties. The first is the enabling variety – cheap loans! bad credit? no problem!  The second is the “helpful” variety – get out of debt, buy a better credit score, that sort of thing. And you know none of these guys is listed with the BBB.

So, you know what I want? I want something a little different from my spam. I want something that surprises me, something that doesn’t make me yawn and say “Oh. Another free loan for free Viagra with free sex toy and purse offer. Yawn.”

You know what I want? Spam I can use. Send me spam on how to pick a summer camp for my Munchkin. That I can use.

Yet again the BFF comes through with the WTF moment. Today, she was talking with an acquaintance – an acquaintance who styles herself as person who goes to the theater, ballet, all the high brow cultural stuff. [I love the symphony, enjoy the ballet, and am ambivalent about Broadway but passionate about Shakespeare, so take that for what it's worth.]

BFF happened to run across this ad in the Louis Vuitton core values campaign and commented on how good Mikhail Baryshnikov looks for 62. Sixty. Freaking. Two. He looks good in general and fantastic for 62 (though his feet are wretched, as all ballet dancers).  Anyway, BFF comments on how good he looks.

“Who?”

“Baryshnikov.”

“Who’s that?”

*crickets chirping*

Really? Aside from casting a huge shadow in the world of ballet as a dancer, putting down the benchmark performance of the Nutcracker*, he’s a ridiculously famous choreographer and has performed on Broadway. Not to mention the movies – but, well, those were a long time ago, so we’ll only mention them in passing. Because White Nights has some of the best classical dance sequences** on film – including an outstanding emotional scene by Gregory Hines, for which I couldn’t find a clip, so here’s a great tap scene instead. Plus it’s funny. Then there’s Turning Point.

Anyway, the point is that I can’t imagine how anyone with a modicum of interest in theater and dance could not know who Baryshnikov is. I totally get how someone without any interest in or exposure to dance or theater would be in the dark as to his complete awesomeness. But, well, all I can say is that I suspect this person is much less well-versed than they want my BFF to believe.

Plus – wow. I feel old. I mean, Baryshnikov was one of my formative crushes. I blame him for my foray into Russian language and my bizarre love for the hungry Slavic hero look. The idea that he is an unknown commodity makes me want to buy some Ben-Gay and sit in a rocker. Well, at least I didn’t grow up with a crush on Nureyev. Though with pics like (NOT SAFE FOR WORK OR ANYONE WITH A HEART CONDITION) these, I think I would have. Darned Slavic hotties.

No wonder I wrote Eric. I suppose it was…Destined.

LOL

*This link is the first in a series of links that display the entire ballet.

**This is possibly my favorite dance sequence ever. It’s beautiful, passionate, moving, wrenching. Gorgeous.

Or at least reconnecting.

There are times when I’m so submerged in my writing that I don’t stick my head up long enough to take a look around me. That’s fine. I’m not saying it’s bad or I need to feel like I’m an awful person. It just means that I’m working really hard and trying to make some money in this gig we call writing.

However, I like to re-energize by picking up a book by my favorite author and just falling into the pages of their worlds for a while. And I miss them.

That’s right. I feel like I’ve had a long absence from my favs. It’s not that I don’t want to read, I just haven’t had the time. The worst part is that I have a lot of new authors (not new in the sense that they are newly published but in that I haven’t read them before) that I want to try, and just haven’t found the time.

I’m very careful when writing certain sub-genres that I don’t read anything in that particular area that might influence me. Sometimes I pick up books that aren’t even romance just to cleanse my brainpan and start fresh. It’s funny how when I do that, though, I always seem to pick up books that have strong romantic sub-plots – it’s almost like I can’t get away from it or something.

But I digress.

What I really love to do – and what I plan to indulge in today before the bad weather hits my area again – is to go to the library and puruse the shelves. So much fun. I could spend all afternoon in the library just looking at books and deciding which ones I’m going to check out and which I’ll leave for next time.

Sometimes I’m going through the shelves and I’ll find a new release from a favorite author that I didn’t know was coming. That’s soooo cool. Or I can find new favorites that I might not be sure about spending money on at this stage.

Anyhoo, I better get going. The library is set to open in about 30 minutes and I want to get there and back before the bulk of my day begins.

-Kate

I am in waiting hell, otherwise known as LIMBO. I currently have two submissions out, one in extended wait that I have written off and 3 WIPs.

Joy.

My real life is in Limbo, too. Several things I have no control over but could possibly shift my focus at any minutes. Waiting has never been my strong point, ever. I am the type that yells at the microwave to hurry up. So this is torture for me. You get to listen to me ramble.

To fill the gap, that gaping sucking hole, I have overloaded on research. Researching not only the 3 stories in progress but also the next 2 or so. I have done searches and spoken with people on Alaska, grizzly bears, Blind services, radio stations, China, Native Americans, The American Penal system, child sexual abuse, rape victims, battered women, wolves, ritual sacrifices, drug trafficking and the ever popular volcanic fallout.

So I have been keeping busy. I am nearly finished with a freebie for Valentine’s day as well. At least I am not twiddling my thumbs. Although looking at my laundry pile, you would think that. WHy can I never catch up with that even when not on deadline?

For whatever reason, these 13 lines have stuck with me. The movies are varied and in different genres, but I will just call myself complex and leave it alone.

1- Ouiser Boudreaux: I’m not crazy, I’ve just been in a very bad mood 40 years! (Steel Magnolias)

2- Khan: [quoting from Melville's Moby Dick] To the last, I will grapple with thee… from Hell’s heart, I stab at thee! For hate’s sake, I spit my last breath at thee! (Star Trak:Wrath of Kahn)

3- Inigo Montoya: Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die. (Princess Bride)

4- Bill: 4 is good. 4 will relocate your house very efficently.

Melissa: Is there an F5? [Everyone goes dead silent] What would that be like?

Jason ‘Preacher’ Rowe: The Finger of God. (Twister)

5- Mordred: I like my women married, my willpower weak, my wine strong, and my saints fallen. (Camelot)

6- Colonel Robert G. Shaw: [writing to his mother, telling her that he seen his first negroes amongst those fleeing the south] We fight for men and women whose poetry is not yet written but which will presently be as enviable and as renowned as any. (Glory)

7- Lora: You’re aiming high.
Steve: Why not? It doesn’t cost anymore. Don’t you believe in chasing rainbows?   (Imitation of Life)

8- Professor Henry Jones: Elsa never really believed in the grail. She thought she’d found a prize.
Indiana Jones: And what did you find, Dad?
Professor Henry Jones: Me? Illumination. (Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade)

9- Dr. Ian Malcolm: Yeah, but your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should. (Jurassic Park)

10- Jimmy Dugan: Uh, Lord, hallowed be Thy name. May our feet be swift; may our bats be mighty; may our balls… be plentiful. Lord, I’d just like to thank You for that waitress in South Bend. You know who she is – she kept calling Your name. And God, these are good girls, and they work hard. Just help them see it all the way through. Okay, that’s it. (A League of Their Own)

10- George: Who presents this woman? This woman? But she’s not a woman. She’s just a kid. And she’s leaving us. I realized at that moment that I was never going to come home again and see Annie at the top of the stairs. Never going to see her again at our breakfast table in her nightgown and socks. I suddenly realized what was happening. Annie was all grown up and was leaving us, and something inside began to hurt. (Father of the Bride)

11- [Evelyn is cut off in a parking lot]
Evelyn Couch: Hey! I was waiting for that spot!
Girl #1: Face it, lady, we’re younger and faster! [Evelyn rear-ends the other car six times] What are you *doing*?
Girl #2: Are you *crazy*?
Evelyn Couch: Face it, girls, I’m older and I have more insurance.    (Fried Green Tomatoes)

12- Jareth: You remind me of the babe.
Goblin: What babe?
Jareth: The babe with the power.
Goblin: What power?
Jareth: The power of voodoo.
Goblin: Who do?
Jareth: You do.
Goblin: Do what?
Jareth: Remind me of the babe. (Labyrinth)

13- Edward Lewis: So what happens after he climbs up and rescues her?
Vivian: She rescues him right back. (Pretty Woman)

Well, my post won’t be as exciting as Inez’s, but then that is the fate we all suffer, I guess.  Though judging from the size of the mess she had to clean, it’s probably a good thing since something like that would have put me completely over the damn edge and beyond.

My post is going to be about actually clearing my desk of some things.  Can I get an AMEN.

I sent off the requested full of Private Negotiations to Liquid Silver Books. Hurray!!! I finished the rough draft on Vermillion. Yay!!! Now, I only have to write the sucknopsis and then go back through and edit – all this before the Jan. 31st deadline. But that’s all right. I’m on target for it. It will happen. Then I have to break to finish the full I promised LI, and work on the sequel to my February Samhain release. Yay!!!! Here it is the end of January and I’m already seeing progress. That’s good. I’m on track so far. Please, just let me stay there.

However, there is a wrinkle in the fabric that is my schedule – namely the shade of sequels to come. Yes, I’m a sequel whore. So, as I finished up the damn book Private Negotiations, I had two more books set in that world swirling about my head like busted satellites on acid trips. I’ll need to tuck those in there somewhere as I finish up a couple more books.

Thing is, I hate having so many projects left undone on my hard drive. I really am going to get some of them out the door this year. There are some that are almost complete, or at least at the halway point. Come on, that’s good. It’s not going to be that hard to finish, right? Then why am I so far behind on them? Jeez.

Raise your hand if you want to switch to 30 hour days. Six more hours might actually see me getting something more accomplished.

So far, so good.

-Kate

Why, when I have so many projects I need to work on, does my muse decide it’s time to bus da’ move? You’d think she sat around for ages storing up ideas and threw them at me all at once. That would be a lie. Actually, I think my muse might be a trickster male that delights in watching me multi-task. Guys just seem to fall back in awe as they watch the female persuasion juggle apples and spin plates. I don’t know why that is. Anyhoo – I’ve had a slew of new ideas hit me lately. The bounty of my fertile imagination is overflowing.

That doesn’t mean I’m changing the order I’m going to write things in for the next few months, just that I have more ideas to pool from now. As if I needed that, right?

I just wish I could stay awake for any length of time on my days off. It’s horrible. I seem to want to sleep the entire day away. Not productive.

I’m thinking I must be very far behind by now on my work. However, I’m looking for a netbook to take to work with me so I can write on my breaks. I find writing in spiral notebooks not so helpful anymore for some reason. Though I don’t know why. Perhaps it’s because I tend to go so far afield when I finally do put the scenes into the computer I figure what good does it do to pre-write them?

Aww, but then I digress as I so often do.

-Kate