I am head-down in revision mode right now, which is always an obsessive state for me. If I were left to my own devices, every time I get started with major revisions, I would keep revising steadily for hours and days, skipping food and drink and showers and getting progressively more and more withdrawn from the world until the push was finally over. However, after two hours of intense revision this morning, Patrick officially Declared Me Done for the morning, and ordered me to take a break to do something else. Which was reasonable. So now I'm freshly showered, I've eaten a bagel hot from the oven, and I'm flailing around a bit for something non-Kat-related to do. And meanwhile, of course, the back of my brain keeps ticking away on plot points, keeping me half-distracted from everything else I try to think about or engage in.

It's all good. The rewrite is going well, and I genuinely believe the book is getting better and better. But I'm not good for much else right now, so I'll have to resort to links for content.

First of all, Jed Hartman wrote a really smart post on female characters in fiction (and the most common issues that come up in the Strange Horizons slush pile), which includes a checklist that made me cheer. I've read soooo many stories that drive me crazy for exactly those reasons - and if I ever read another story with a single important female character who's introduced only so she can die to motivate the hero to his final daredevil efforts...well, my head probably won't actually explode, but it'll want to!

And secondly, Tiffany Trent just posted a really interesting entry on myth in fantasy literature, which has sparked a lot of good responses. (Despite the fact that Patrick actually disagreed with me in his comment. Treason! ;p )