There May Or May Not Be a Poem Here Later

I promised you a poem, didn't I? Well, I may or may not deliver before the night is out, but I'm beginning to suspect not. Meanwhile, there are few other things I need to write in this nice white box:

1.  I've researched; I've voted; I'm done!  With two hours to spare!  Can you say squeeeek?  If you have an AOL or AIM account, and if you haven't already done so, you can vote in the VIVIs--but only if you hurry! [No, you can't.  It's over now.]

Remember, Musings from Mâvarin has been nominated for the following:

Go!  Vote!  I'll still be here when you get back.  You know me; I'll be up for hours and hours yet.  Of course, most of that time will be spent putting candy and toys in Ziploc bags.

For me, there were only a few unpleasant moments in the whole VIVI voting process.  First there was that attack of insecurity I had the other night.  Thanks, folks, for helping me through it.  Then there were a few less-than-wonderful moments when I was researching certain categories. Either I was annoyed because certain journalers were saying mean things about each other "in good fun" (or for other reasons), or I was torn between two or more excellent choices for that particular award. 

The third and final unpleasantness was when I posted a comment in some stranger's journal, in response to a rather negative entry.  The gist of my comment was, "Yes, I don't comment that much either, but surely things aren't as bad as you seem to think they are."  I got two nasty emails back from this person in rapid succession, with a semi-apology in between.  If this is how that journaler reacts to a well-meaning stranger, I can just imagine the flames that must erupt when more volatile and combative correspondents are involved.  Me, I want no part of that junk.  There are too many nice people in J-Land to waste time and emotions on people who upset me.  And yes, I am still a little upset.  I'll get over it.

2.  Mall of Mâvarin Post Mortem - after 33 weeks, mysecond serial is finally over.  Here's what I've learned from writing it:

a.  It's almost impossible to handle a large cast adequately in a confined setting.  When there are ten or twenty named characters "on stage" at once, it's difficult to remember all of them individually, let alone give each of them a chance to say and so interesting things.  Instead it was almost a matter of holding up lines of dialogue like fish before trained porpoises:  "I've got a line here about The Wizard of Oz!  Who wants it?" Snap!  It's not that big a problem in the books, because usually there aren't that many characters in a given scene. Next time I do a serial, though, I'm going to try for a smaller cast list!

b. Being entirely unable to plot ahead (I almost never know what's gonna happen in a story until it happens) is dangerous in a serial posted week by week. If I had known in the early weeks of writing Mall of that Li would be important to the plot, I would have mentioned him sooner.  Had I known that Ariel Allegra would figure in the resolution, Josh would have mentioned his daughter five months ago.  And so on.  In the novels, I can go back and lay in something that needs to happen in Chapter 3 to justify what happens in Chapter 13.  I can't do that in these serials, so the verisimilitude suffers a bit.

c.  Speaking of verisimilitude, Mall of confirms what I've suspected for years - suspension of disbelief for Mâvarin suffers if there's too much interplay with the "real" world.  Mâvarin isn't Narnia, and opening it up to kids from DeWitt does not keep us grounded in the reality of the world of my characters.  Therefore, Mall of Mâvarin will almost certainly never be considered a "canonical" Mâvarin story.

3.  I have a visitor here.  She's far from her normal climes, and has yet to get her bearings, but she promises to speak to you tomorrow.  Meanwhile, she's going to help me decorate for Halloween.  Now, if we can just affix these rosesto the cloth-covered cardboard, we'll be in ship-shape!

Karen