A Novel Idea

First and foremost--I'm taking a wee vacation from work. Had a minor breakdown the other day...It wasn't exactly *about* work, I think. I think it was a lot of factors coming together, mixed with a brain off balance (worse than usual) with nicotine withdrawal. Work was only an issues, IMO, because...well, basically, I'm underpaid to give to people, the majority of whom don't actually want it or want it, but want it to be something that it's not.

Hmmm, how to explain?

It's not (and feel free to hold onto your own view of things) past/present/future. It's what-was/what-is/what-should-(or what's likely)-to-be. The Tarot can look at all these things--in it's way, which is more about how the reader works than anything, I suppose--but there's a limit. And where there are not limits, sometimes there should be...

Of course, I get to this part of my explanation and realize I don't want to explain any more. Of course, having come this far, I feel like I need to make sense of how this--which is sort of a dream job--ends up being so stressful. I'll leave it for the main journal.

What belongs in the writing journal? Oh. Yeah. Anne Bishop.

Just finished Sebastian. I really enjoyed it. Wasn't sure I would since it had mixed reviews, and those reviews are what's been on my mind as far as my writing dilemma's concerned.

See, I have just a handful of scenes left for Quinn's first version to be done. And I haven't written more than a handful of lines since NaNo ended. Now, I'm queen of introspection. I'm well aware that my fear of failure is eclipsed only by my fear of success. That's a hard thing to explain...until now.

Anne Bishop wrote a glorious trilogy+ (the public begged, she added a stand alone set in the same world a few centuries earlier...kept begging, added an anthology type thing....begged even more and, rumor has it, she's adding another book). It's not for everyone. Some don't like the dark themes of the Black Jewel series. But otherwise, it's a cross-over hit: great fantasy, romance lovers dig, I've heard and read it appreciated by those who would generally not appreciate either.


Then came the Tir Alainn Trilogy. Nice books. Very interesting dark fantasy take on the Burning Times (witch hunts). And totally unappreciated by the masses. If someone else had written them, they would have been well appreciated, but they were writen by the woman who created The Blood--who wrote the Black Jewels story, which may not have changed the face of fantasy for the world, but definitely painted on the landscape for those of us who'd been drawn in.

With Sebastian, she went back to some of what was loved in Black Jewels, making it different enough in character and concept to not be a rip off of her earlier work. It's good, damn it. But it doesn't quite compare and review after customer review makes it clear that nothing ever can.

How much does that have to suck?

Now, I'm not that big on hubris. I don't put Quinn's tale in league with Black Jewels. But that fear that, if it's well received, I've got nowhere to go but to hell from there.