This is not about the trip to moon the Preztender has been talking about lately. Though I may have more to say on that soon. I'm told by someone who knows about this thing and all the adjacent things that we should pay very close attention to the details of that proposal once they hit the air. I had no idea that DOD's space budget was more than NASA's. Shudder.

But no, this is about the actual moon, the pale one I can see through my office window, paying not one bit of attention to the wispy clouds that are attempting to play veil to her Marilyn Monroe. According to the Washington Post it's called the Cold Moon, because as we sometimes forget to remember all the moons have names. The Pink Moon's not gonna get us until April, Richard.

Terry Pratchett has an interesting column on starting one book after you finish another one in the Guardian (thanks, Write Hemisphere!). This is advice I believe in, though I don't believe it has to be a book, just another project of some kind. My screenwriting professor, the eminent Dr. Hillwig (Hi Jack! Are you owner of any oil wells yet?), the best damn writing teacher I ever had or ever hope to, drummed this into me like nothing else. When you finish a script, you start a new one, the next day. There's one fringe benefit that Pratchett doesn't mention to this approach, because I take it that he means actually finish, send off to publisher, cut, print, whammo, no more. I'm talking about when the first draft which may or may not be close to the final one is done, and you start something else. (This is something those of us currently without deadlines can indulge, rather than having to go right back in with a dirty scalpel and used gloves on.) But to me, one of the best things about starting something new right away is the perspective it gives you on what you just wrote. It's a good thing to have, when you go back to it. Obviously, I am a pup and a sprite and can show no results to say this is right, but take Mr. Pratchett's word for it and: someday soon. Anyway, the last paragraph of the piece:

I've learned one or two things over the years. One is that the best time to work out a book is in bed, just after you've woken up. I think my brain is on timeshare to a better author overnight. (A notebook is vital at this point.) And if you think you have a book evolving, now is the time to write the flap copy - the blurb, in fact. An author should never be too proud to write their own flap copy. Getting the heart and soul of a book into fewer than 100 words helps you focus. More than half the skill of writing lies in tricking the book out of your own head.

And, blog-watching, some interesting things today. Interesting conversation in Holly Black's livejournal about several panel topics she will be on at an upcoming con, but mostly about missing parents in SF. And an entry in Terry Teachout's About Last Night blog about how most sex scenes in movies are wholly unmemorable. A couple of weeks ago, over at SeeMaxRun we were naming best fight scenes in movies, and then we moved on to best kisses -- it was distressingly easier to come up with great fight scenes than memorable kisses.

Hmmm... That's all. Was this written like a White House pool report? Maybe. May. Be.

earworm: "Low Red Moon," Belly

random rec: The Believer (!)

namecheck: Kelly "we bought your christmas present and you don't even know what it is" Link and Gavin "you don't know either" Grant