Ami Chopine

Or kismet, whatever you want to call that coincidence that I attribute to God.

This morning, wake up at 7:00 and know I need to get out there to run.

Husband asks me a question, I sit on the bed to talk a bit.

Get dressed.

Tell my daughter to take the dog out to do her stuff before I go. Puppy dog (Mitzi) is too excited for her walk, and after I’m a bit more dressed I take her out to the back.

Vladimir comes out and we talk for a bit.

I couldn’t find my watch. I look in all the usually places, and this takes me another 5 minutes. I finally find it in a place I’d already looked (of course).

Go out, realize it is finally, gloriously bright outside and I need my sunglasses. Go back inside to get them.

I’d also been told the day before (by a trainer at Lifetime Fitness who by chance had to move his meeting with me to yesterday) to do a 1 minute walk/2 minute run intervals rather than running straight through, which I usually do on Friday mornings.

During my run, I found myself coming up on a man in his motorized wheelchair. I ran, almost caught up to him, then walked. Did this a couple of times. I caught up to him just as he was passing a driveway. A car was backing up. As I approached, I realized neither saw each other, and the car was going to hit the wheelchair. Of course I yelled and ran towards them. And they stopped, and it was avoided.

I wouldn’t have seen it if I’d been just second faster, and would not have been close enough to be heard and acted on if I’d been just seconds slower.

Hi everyone,

I’ve been very busy with family, writing, etc. If anyone follows my Facebook, you’ve probably seen. Unfortunately, Facebook might be dripping away some of my blogging motivation. I’m also deluged with so many thoughts that I’m having a difficult time plucking them down for writing in my blog. My mom says I shouldn’t hide so many facets in my life, and show only the professional side. I think she’d like to see more mommy blog things from me.

I agree with her, but then I think: those are MY things, not anyone else’s. Also, my family is so awesome, it would be boring to everyone but my mom. That’s the problem with awesomeness. Great to live in it, boring on the outside looking in.

And really, everything isn’t completely peachy, but I hate whining.

So on goes the professional face. And it is a good face because it’s hard work and frustrating and all tension ridden and stuff. You know, not boring to the reader. Theoretically. If you want to know what happens next. I also can’t whine here, because that would look unprofessional.

Ack!

So anyway, the book has been out a little over a month now. Over three websites: Amazon, Barnes and Nobles, and Borders, I’ve had 12 ratings. All but one of those is five stars. The other is four stars. Other reviews outside of bookstore ratings are also very positive. It isn’t so different that I regularly check all the bookstore websites. I love bookstores in any form. What is different is the one single book I regularly check on.

So, we are getting ready for Siggraph. This is difficult in one way for me. My creativity is being pulled in more than one direction. I have plenty of the muses hanging about. Just the fact that I AM a mom. I have a kid still in school and I volunteer there. The school is far away, I need to pick her up. I have a four year old who really shouldn’t be babysat by the TV, though the currently away at camp teenage girls are usually there to help in the summer. And if they aren’t there, I’ve probably driven them somewhere.

Not sure if I’m scared or excited about 16 yr old getting her drivers license. A little of both, I think.

Plus, there is a big family reunion coming up at a fantastic ranch in Idaho.

I teach young children at church, and I’m in both the ward and stake choirs.

Planning another 3D book. Desperate to work on my novel. Have several short stories in the almost complete stage, and some I’ve recently sent back out into the market.

Hi everyone,

I’ve been very busy with family, writing, etc. If anyone follows my Facebook, you’ve probably seen. Unfortunately, Facebook might be dripping away some of my blogging motivation. I’m also deluged with so many thoughts that I’m having a difficult time plucking them down for writing in my blog. My mom says I shouldn’t hide so many facets in my life, and show only the professional side. I think she’d like to see more mommy blog things from me.

I agree with her, but then I think: those are MY things, not anyone else’s. Also, my family is so awesome, it would be boring to everyone but my mom. That’s the problem with awesomeness. Great to live in it, boring on the outside looking in.

And really, everything isn’t completely peachy, but I hate whining.

So on goes the professional face. And it is a good face because it’s hard work and frustrating and all tension ridden and stuff. You know, not boring to the reader. Theoretically. If you want to know what happens next. I also can’t whine here, because that would look unprofessional.

Ack!

So anyway, the book has been out a little over a month now. Over three websites: Amazon, Barnes and Nobles, and Borders, I’ve had 12 ratings. All but one of those is five stars. The other is four stars. Other reviews outside of bookstore ratings are also very positive. It isn’t so different that I regularly check all the bookstore websites. I love bookstores in any form. What is different is the one single book I regularly check on.

So, we are getting ready for Siggraph. This is difficult in one way for me. My creativity is being pulled in more than one direction. I have plenty of the muses hanging about. Just the fact that I AM a mom. I have a kid still in school and I volunteer there. The school is far away, I need to pick her up. I have a four year old who really shouldn’t be babysat by the TV, though the currently away at camp teenage girls are usually there to help in the summer. And if they aren’t there, I’ve probably driven them somewhere.

Not sure if I’m scared or excited about 16 yr old getting her drivers license. A little of both, I think.

Plus, there is a big family reunion coming up at a fantastic ranch in Idaho.

I teach young children at church, and I’m in both the ward and stake choirs.

And I workout.

So yeah, lots of things. Life is full right now.

Pandora’s Star by Peter F. Hamilton

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars
Interesting ideas, well written, good structure - but kind of stereotypical characters. When a star suddenly disappears, a FTL (through wormhole travel) ship is built and sent there to investigate.

I usually love big, thick books, so it was exciting to me to see an epic size science fiction novel. The length in this novel doesn’t satisfy for two reasons:

First, we are given so much back-story that the book is bogged down. The reader has to work very hard to move the story forward as it is never apparent what details are important to the plot and what are there because Peter Hamilton couldn’t bear to leave out anything in his head.

Second, I found myself not caring to remain in the world. For a future where we’ve basically figured out how to live for a very, very long time and can even survive death (perhaps without the most recent memories), it is depressing though. Civilization has become cynical, and thinks it is maturity.

It was good enough though, with a strong enough ending/cliffhanger that I have picked up the second book in this series.

View all my reviews.

My mom said something very true the other day, that I really can’t separate myself into parts: wife, mom, writer, etc. Every facet affects every other one. It’s all one me. So this “making of” topic is going to drop all the professional/public face stuff I usually show to everyone. The fact is, I’m a woman with teenagers, an almost teenager, and a pre-schooler. I’m involved in the schools. I’m a wife. I run. I read a lot. Fitting writing into that gets complicated.

Fitting a 70,000 word/250 image book into that, in two months, gets really simple: Family, writing, church and nothing else. To achieve my goal, I set a daily goal of 2000 words. This gave me Sundays off so that I could recharge.

My morning started with seeing one kid off to her bus and taking another her bus, which is far away because she goes to a magnet school. Then I came home, grabbed a bowl of cereal and sat down at my computer. I’d take care of my email, any other tasks I’d have to do, and then play a short game. I used this short game as kind of a relax, transition kind of thing. Then I’d start writing.

I used two computers: My powerhouse computer to run Vue with, and my laptop I use to write. As well as ALWAYS having Vue open, sometimes more than one version on different computers, I kept three Vue manuals around for versions 5, 6, and 7, and the phone handy so I could call Vladimir. I knew Vue pretty good but I always like to confirm what I thought I knew with both what the program actually did and what the manual said it did. Plus, honestly, there were nooks and crannies that I hadn’t explored yet. Needless to say, I know a bit more about Vue now. I also kept some fuel at hand: either Nerds or some form of chocolate - or both :).

My youngest daughter was “off track” for a portion of the time, so she played with my preschool son while I wrote. But still, every morning he needed a bit of a “wake up snuggle”. So he’d come down and spend a bit of time with me, and then I’d get back to writing.

Slowly, day by day I ate into that word count more and more. Kids came in and needed things. I didn’t always make my word count. Some days I only managed 500. But other days were wonderful and I got 3000 on to it. My daily goal gave me a bit of wiggle room, but not much. I wrote the chapters first, and then the tutorials, and then I put together all of the images. I had a goal for how many images I needed to finish too, but I forget. I think I did that part in about two weeks.

I had one more week until deadline when Vladimir came home in the morning. He’d been laid off work. That was a strange situation, since he’d had no warning signs and everyone in the office was very surprised. So, we swallowed the shock and decided to not do anything about it until we had this book and it’s website ready. Geekatplay isn’t quite up to making a living for us yet, especially when we need insurance for the family, but it gave us some wiggle room. He helped me finish some of the tutorials, generating a lot of images. Vladimir isn’t the writer in this team, but a lot of both his technical knowledge and his artwork is in that book.

Finally, the day came when we sent the finished manuscript in, electronically of course. It felt, mentally, like I’d just run a marathon and crossed the finish line. But it wasn’t quite finished. I had a few missing images (despite double checking) and then there were proofs to do, and getting the word out. The editing team over at Focal Press is fantastic to work with. I also had a technical editor, Peggy Walters, who was just a joy.

But still, the whole process happened so fast that I almost feel like someone else wrote the book and dropped it into my lap. It’s been an amazing journey in which I’ve learned a lot about more than just Vue.

I got my box today, with copies of the book. It’s beautiful, and I’m so excited about it. Excited that finally Vue has a good book out there on the shelves. It’s such a fantastic program. Excited that people can stop being afraid of a few things (The function editor :)) and bring their artistry with Vue to a new level. Or just start out. Vue Pioneer, BTW, is free. And yes, it’s kind of cool to have our name on it.

To see a bit more about the book, take a look at the website: http://www.vuefromthegroundup.com.

Lamentation by Ken Scholes

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
As I’ve listened to rather than read this book, please forgive any spelling errors in the names and such.

Lamentation starts out with the destruction of a city with its vast central library, survived only by a boy and a mechoservitor. The rest of the book basically deals with the burial of this action: coming to grips with it and starting anew.

I enjoyed the mix of magic and a future technology that was lost and being rediscovered through archeology. The added touch of politics with an order of monks controlling all of these discoveries for a delicious read.

Scholes developed the characters well, so that in the end we sympathized with even the villains. Rudolfo was an especially interesting character, being accurately described by his nemesis as foppish, and yet Rudolfo has a strong will, strategic and military skills, as well as honor.

One other thing I’m impressed with as a writer myself is his ability to put epic depth into a regular sized book. And yet I’m left wondering if this cutting off point was just a bit artificial, so that the book could be fit into the constraints we writers are given these days. Nevertheless, I’m looking forward to reading the next one.

View all my reviews.

At church today, I sat with my class of kids in sharing time, when lots of classes are together doing music and having a short lesson. These lessons are basic, but this doesn’t mean adults can’t get something out of them.

Today the teacher held up a poster board with several simple pictures on it. The room was supposed to look at them all and then remember them when the pictures were removed from view. I know I didn’t remember them all. But between all the kids having looked at them, every single picture was remembered.

It occurred to me at that point that this is how we work in real life. So much more gets done when we all support and value everyone. Of course that isn’t any big revelation but I love it when we get reminded in little ways like this.

There was one picture, the last one, that only one kid remembered: the one in our group with autism.

This isn’t just about team work, workplace productivity. I think it has a lot of implications to the great search for truth. We all find different parts of it and we all gain more when we come together and share what we’ve learned. Everyone’s voice is important.

The Speed of Dark by Elizabeth Moon

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars
Lou Arrendale is an autistic who, because of new technologies with learning and stimulus, can live on his own, have a job, and even enjoys a fencing hobby. Still, he has many impairments when it comes to social interaction as well as a diagnosis that limits his career possibilities. When an experimental treatment to cure his autism is developed by the company he works for, he is faced with several important questions, besides how dangerous it could be. If he likes himself, why does he want to change? Will he still be himself?

I give this five stars rather than four because it was one of those novels that not only grabbed me and kept me on the couch or up late at night reading, but it made me think and still makes me think. Moon’s portrayal of an autistic is beautiful, not just in the voice but in the way Lou sees the world.

View all my reviews.

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
I listened to this book, rather than read it. What this means is that I couldn’t read the book fast or slower, just devote more time to listening to it. The reader, Simon Prebble, has a British accent that fits the tone of the book beautifully.

This book takes a long time to build up the setting. So long, in fact, that I really only picked up my Zune (my current audio player) when I had to clean and be a chauffeur, rather than thinking of something to clean so I could listen to it.

Norrell is a magician who actually practices magic, rather than just studying its history. In an attempt to show that he actually can do magic, rather than do something a bit simple he summons a fairy to raise a dead girl, and in the process offends the fairy. This starts us off on the problem, but in fact this doesn’t happen until the first third. And only after that do we meet the other main characters, such as Strange and Stephen, a black butler who the fairy enchants along with the girl.

Once these pieces have been ponderously, though deliciously, put in place, the book moves along quite well. The ending is for the most part satisfying, but I found the resolution of one thread so bitter in its sweetness that I was left with a bad aftertaste.

The book is rich, but if you’re looking for Regency era Lord of the Rings, you will probably be disappointed.

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The Immortals by Tracy Hickman

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars
I started reading this book because I heard the author give a speech at a writer’s conference. I LOVED what Tracy Hickman had to say, I liked his vibe, so I figured I would really enjoy his books. I chose The Immortals because this is his favorite book.

It took me a long time to get into this book. This is the reason for the three stars rather than four. The basic reason was that I had a very difficult time suspending my disbelief. It turned out that this was something that really could have been fixed because all the information ended up being there. It just wasn’t revealed until later. I fear that Hickman was so in love with his idea that he wanted to unfold it as part of the mystery. The problem is that nearly all of the main characters knew everything that made me so skeptical I nearly didn’t go on. Most of what they knew was basic history to the world. This forced mystery wasn’t what the book was about anyway. I would have included all this info as fast as possible to give a very clear picture of the setting, so that we could watch the story unfold.

The Immortals starts us out with Jason Barris, a gay diagnosed with V-CIDS which is AIDS on steroids, and his father who he estranged himself from. Jason is caught and stuck in an internment camp. His father, Michael Barris gets himself inside this same camp to see what he can do to help his son. It becomes a story of forgiveness, acceptance on both their parts, and learning to overcome even death so that their stories could be told.

Once I got all the setting information, about halfway through, this was where the story really started. I finished it up in just a couple of days and enjoyed the ending. So, despite earlier struggles in reading it I don’t count it time wasted and with that caveat, I would recommend reading The Immortals.

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On the way home from my book club tonight, I saw an advertisement for Impact Training. Oh man, did that bring back some memories. I’m not sure whether to be thankful or angry. You see, my parents did this, way back in the mid eighties, when it was but a young company on the crest of this trend of New Age seminars meant to replace the spirituality that people had left behind in their pursuit of success. My parents were informed that this was the Mormon version.

I’ll start with the good. I learned two things from them. First, I am responsible for the way in which I react. Second, I should not be afraid to be exactly who I am, and conversely I shouldn’t want other people to be like me. Okay, a third one: guilt is not helpful.

These are excellent things to know, and I’m very glad to have learned them.

I learned them because my parents kept on bringing this message home and it really resonated with me. For them, it was good for a short while. But one of the problems was that this Impact Training wasn’t structured to give you the information and then let you go on your way. No. It was a situation where you’d need the next step, and the next, and the next - but without much substance in any of them beyond the initial teachings.

My parents brought my sister and I to the teenager/parent one. I was curious, at how great this must be. I have to admit, I was a bit disappointed. There was nothing much going on here than object lessons, relaxation techniques, and team building techniques brought together in what was actually a bit addictive. And what was worse, the leaders manipulated the bond built between these people so that social pressure was put on everyone to attend the next training. Each of these, of course, costing more money. One interesting and alarming side effect was that integrity was deemed very much less important than how one felt.

Wrapped up in some very excellent truths was a technique meant to enslave people. I saw people lose their religion, friendships, and marriages over it. I’m a bit older now and recognize it better.

My parents started to get clued in to what was actually going on. We had to move out of state to get away from it.

Most everything my parents had gained in self esteem and drive through these trainings faded. It had been artificially inflated, based not on real gains, but on junk spirituality.