I has a happy AND an unhappy

Unhappy first. Colin apparently fell today while working and is in Misericordia getting his elbow checked. The pre-hospital guess, it sounds like, is that it's *not* broken. But better to be sure.

Of course, this is more than one kind of bad news. I mean, I think it would suck enough that he's hurt himself - whatever way it turns out he's done so.

But of course, we were supposed to be emptying the cupboards on the back wall of the kitchen so we can remove said wall, along with the electrical work Colin was doing (And cleaning the kitchen is one place I can actually help...). The electrical inspector is due Friday unless we call to change the appointment.

I want him to come home with good news...
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The happy is much more personal. I was blathering on not long about about both wanting to force some structure on this last part of the damn book so it wasn't all hobbits soldiers walking. AND that I was looking at a dearth of female characters. But of course I couldn't change another soldier to female because of course, the lack of people of the opposite sex is a plot point.

Except it isn't, quite. A lack of people Ketan would desire to have sex with is. And in fact, it's mentioned that there's at least one female around who's the right age and not physically, mentally or emotionally repulsive that just isn't right for him.

There's also a soldier for whom he develops a strong brotherly feeling (Ketan adopts siblings. Sort of like I occasionally have, or Branwen. This would be the third, at least that he acknowledges as the same. I think it's the fourth, but I'm the writer.) A soldier who's in a kind of odd limbo since, as a wizard, he doesn't quite fit traditional rank structure, and as the son of one of the lieutenants, he's kind of treated slightly differently (Not better or worse, but differentiated...)

And suddenly, looking at him, flipping his gender... makes sense of a whole lot of things. Like how and why this particular group is unique in having a female Sergeant. And really, being female doesn't suddenly make this character any more suited to wanting or having sexual relations with Ketan. See again - brotherly feeling. And, as an aside, I HATE how every time someone in TV or many books professes brotherly/sisterly feelings, it turns out at least half the duo does have unrequited romantic feeling. It would be nice to show adopted siblings who feel as I've always felt about mine - pretty consistently not interested, even on those occasions I've seen them look particularly aesthetically pleasing/kick-ass/sexy.

Anyhow, I tried it on yesterday, and yes, she already has her own way of speaking, and it's kind of fun to write her.

(no subject)

Further to the last post: Not broken. Bone-bruise, so he's taking a break tonight.

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In other news:

The agent who asked for a full MS for the Serpent Prince passed ("High fantasy not a very good sell, not enthused enough"), and I've found out for sure that not one, but TWO of my prior submissions went to incorrect e-mail addresses in spite of me checking IMMEDIATELY before mailing as to guidelines. (One was definitely a case of multiple web sites, where Agentquery and Publisher's Marketplace had different info from the agency's own site. One MIGHT have been me going by my own spreadsheet instead of triple-checking.) In the latter case, I can hope this only meant I got auto-deleted and delayed a few weeks, not that they'll notice and think me a clueless Dip. In the former, I did a follow-up e-mail, so they know I was a clueless Dip. But they still told me to send it to the correct address.