Vital question

[mrissa]

So, having poked the Not The Moose Book with a sharp stick enough times, I have discovered that it separates rather cleanly in twain. (I had just had a mad thought about putting Twain in one of the books in this series. NO. Stay focused, Mris.) And further that the first book, Thermionic Night, is rough-drafted. Its 120K length should have tipped me off that it was a book. Sometimes I'm rather slow about these things.

I have to edit like a mad thing to get it into any kind of public shape -- and I'm not going to do that until I'm done with the draft of Sampo, which was Part 2 and is now Book 2, because of "Bull Durham" -- that is, I'm not going to do it yet because of "Bull Durham," not that it's Book 2 because of "Bull Durham" -- maybe I should just quit now and start a new sentence. Have to edit like a mad thing, but the bones of the book are there and some flesh and functional organs, too.

The vital question before me -- and before you, dears, via e-mail or comment section -- relates to parties. You get to have a celebration of your choice when you finish a book. (In fact, for each book written you are allowed five celebrations, as described here.) I missed throwing the "book is drafted" party. The choices before me:
--skip all parties: who needs to celebrate anyway?
--wrap it in with the party for finishing Sampo, since they used to be pretending to be the same book anyway
--wrap it in with Mark's intended but unscheduled acquisition party, since Sun now owns his company and we now own a piece of Sun to sell off and use for happy things
--have a series of parties for each of these things separately, because, hey, any excuse!

I should mention that I have moose napkins, so skipping the parties entirely will result in their sad everyday use. Not that that should sway your answers. I'm just sayin'.

Talk to me, people.

Comments

[palinade.livejournal.com]

I vote for having a party for each event!

Or wrapping it in the party for finishing Sampo.

Definitely use the moose napkins for a festive event! :-)

[dichroic.livejournal.com]

What about a chat-room virtual party for those of us not in MN?

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I don't usually use chat rooms and really wouldn't have any idea where to go. But if more people are interested -- I don't know, I never thought of it!

[gaaneden.livejournal.com]

A party for all things and a virtual party online so I can celebrate with you virtually.

[mmerriam.livejournal.com]

You should throw a series of parties, resplendent with Moose napkins, to celebrate the occasions. Don't wrap up this party with another for convenience sake, take the opportunity to celebrate each success individually!

[merriehaskell.livejournal.com]

Party as much as would be fun, and send all your virtual friends some sort of baked good wrapped in Moose Napkins. :) (Or not on the last part, but I'm hungry right now...)

[buymeaclue.livejournal.com]

Ooh, I like the online party.

Depends on what sort of party it is. Lot of work and lot of stress would make me vote for no parties and private use of napkins. Lot of fun and lot of food would make me vote for as many parties as possible, and if you must buy more napkins, well then, you must!

But then, my party tolerance is pretty low.

[pameladean]

You don't have to use IM to have an online party. You could do what Elise did for her birthday and have an LJ party. You could post accounts of party events and let people chime in in comments.

As for how many parties, well, I think the main thing is that moose napkins be used festively. I would tend to combine excuses into one party, but I think that I am much tireder than you are.

Pamela

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Are you much tireder than me of celebrating books, in general, or today?

I have to say, I think I'm a contender in the tiredy sweepstakes today specifically. I was glad to have lunch with Stella and Lydy, but I feel like one of them secretly hit me on the back of the head with a hammer at the end of it: I just want to kind of fold up.

[pameladean]

In general. I am not a Very Bouncy Animal, alas.

You win for today, though. Nobody has metaphorically hit me on the back of the head with a hammer, or even a rock.

Pamela

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

The nice thing about not being a VBA is that you don't have to worry about whether your Very Bounciness is annoying people. Because it can, it definitely can, and it's sometimes hard to tell until too late.

Also, there are some people who don't want to let me have Not Very Bouncy days. I was in a role-playing group in college where I was often an active and vocal participant, but I had a bad night once and just wanted to be off on the edges being quiet. I kept coming up with reasons why my character would be off doing something else. And the others, subconsciously I think, were having none of it. One of them tackled me and knelt on my shoulders and tickled me until I couldn't breathe, because, darn it, I was supposed to be energetic and bouncy and fun.

Generally you can sing "The Wonderful Thing About Tiggers" song and substitute in Mrissas, although I will refrain from leaping in laps uninvited. But today I am not bouncy, jouncy, trouncy, or flouncy, much less fun fun fun fun fun.

What is this "finish a book" thing?

[joelrosenberg.livejournal.com]

Well, actually, I know what I think of as finished -- it's when the pageproofs have finally gone off to the publisher, and by that time, I typically find that being done with it is enough reward. After all, there's been the first draft, the revisions after the first readers look at it, the editorial revision, the copyediting to deal with, and then, finally, the pageproofs.

By that time, my thought isn't of parties, but of finally having it off my desk...

The time I want to have a party is when I get the first box of copies of the thing. The smell of the glue is still, after a fair number of years, pretty wonderful.

That said, any excuse/reason for a fun party is fine by me. Go with it.

Re: What is this "finish a book" thing?

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

That's all well and good, but I waiting for the smell of fresh book unnecessarily delays gratification that could be doubled. Unnecessarily, and at this stage in my career indefinitely. Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow a first reader may hate the damn thing.

Party on Garth!

[toolittletime.livejournal.com]

Any excuse for a party is a good one. And who says they need to be in temporal proximity to the event being celebrated? If you have too many thngs to celebrate in a short period of time (what a problem!) space them out to cover the lean times. But in any case, rolling them all into one sounds too much like having your birthday near Christmas and having everyone tell you their gift to you is for both occasions - not good for kids or the Mrissa. And moose napkins - 'nuff said!

-kd