Word of the Day
mucro, n : an abrupt sharp terminal point or tip or process (as of a leaf)
Here’s a word I can’t see myself ever using, but I was fascinated that it existed, along with an adjective form (“mucronate”) and apparently a host of similar botany terms, like “retuse,” describing a leaf with a rounded tip that has a slight notch. Today’s word is from Latin mucro, meaning “point” or “edge.”
NaNoWriMo
It’s now pretty obvious to me that entering a writing contest was probably not my smartest act. I already overwork, so I should go and… do something that encourages me to overwork more? Yeah, not a great idea. As it is, the NaNo algorithm thinks I’ll be done with my 50K words on… *checks* November 5th. That’s not boasting. I honestly find it a little appalling; it’s like confronting an externalized reminder of all my worst flaws. *sigh*
As Engineer Sam said on hearing my complaint, I guess I’ll just burn through it as fast as possible and be done with it, so I can move on to other things. And consider next year signing up for NaNoSlackMo.
Daughter at 5 Years
The other day we stopped at a playground before meeting my mother for lunch; such playgrounds are usually deserted since older kids are in school, but that day there was a little boy there with a grandfather. He was maybe 3 years old? Whatever the case, Daughter trotted over to play with him, and showed him how to make sand castles in the sandbox, and then encouraged him to go play with her on the slides… I was writing notes at the park table, listening, when I heard her say, “Let’s try the monkey bars!”
The monkey bars at that playground were very very low; Daughter is almost tall enough to grab their highest bar. I thought that would be perfect and listened to her say, “See? Now you try!”
A moment later there was a soft thump and then the little boy said, in this sad little crushed voice, “I can’t do it!”
I looked up to find Daughter crouched beside him, patting his back. “Maybe someday,” she said, working through the words, “when you get bigger… you’ll be able to do it! It takes practice, that’s all. Practice makes you better. Why don’t we go try this over here? It’s easier.”
The little boy perked up and said, “Okay!” and followed her to some other climby-thing while I stared after my kid, wide-eyed.
Grandpa ambled by and said, “Quite the philosopher you got there. She’s teaching him how to succeed in life at three!”
“I’m just glad she’s listening,” I said, still stunned. And spent the remainder of our ten minutes there with my cheek in my hand, listening to her coach the little kid with great patience and enthusiasm.
Creative News/Plans
One of my narrators dropped the “Unspeakable” audiobook in my box today for approval! So I hope to have a listen to that this weekend while working on audiobook covers for it and Black Blossom, and the cover for the Aphorisms. I am a little anxious about getting Black Blossom done… I want to finish eating the expense for the audiobook editions, and to wrap it up before I start the last Kickstarter of the year for the 3 Jaguars comic. We’ll see if I can do that, or if I’ll have to run fulfillment for one Kickstarter while doing the campaign for another. See above, re: overwork.
Elsewhere (The History of Stories Edition)
• A Brief History of Elves. Alex Beecroft (who writes fantastic historical romances) talks about the Germanic tradition of elves.
• Jack and Jill, the Beanstalk, the Candle Stick. Who is “Jack” in all these fairy tales?
Quote of the Day
The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek. ~ Joseph Campbell
