Keeping It Unreal

[bloodyrosemccoy]

You all will be happy to hear that I now know the correct pronunciation of Daja's name. All these years I've been using an affricate for the j, and it turns out it's a straight fricative.* ALL THIS TIME I'VE BEEN LIVING A LIE.

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This revelation comes straight from a seemingly rather jet-lagged Tamora Pierce, who was the guest of honor at CONduit, Salt Lake City's slightly pathetic attempt at a big geek con. Normally I stay the hell away from cons, because I never have been able to grasp the fine art of milling around and am baffled by the format of panels.** But this was Tamora Pierce, so I put up with the milling so's I could ATTACH MYSELF TO HER LEG AND ASK IF SHE'D READ MY MANUSCRIPT urbanely say hello, show off Daja, ask a few writing questions, and listen to some panels. I even managed not to be the most obnoxious person at those panels! Good for me!

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So for years I've had this big ball of hemp twine sitting in my desk drawer next to a whole bunch of little rubber bouncy balls, for reasons unexplained. Finally I figured I might as well use them and did the only logical thing I could: learned how to braid a shepherd's sling. Now we'll see who's man enough to try stealing my radishes.***

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Been trying to create some more folktales for OGYAFEland. At the moment I'm working on their version of Santa Claus, because it's never too soon to start Christmas. It's been fun coming up with an origin story for him with folk elements, cultural assumptions, and of course bears. Everything's better with bears.

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My sister, the incomparable sunshine_shaman, has been posting a whole bunch of photos of her Euroventures. I must be hungry, because my favorite one at the moment is a photo of a bunch of cupcakes. You can't eat Notre Dame, after all.

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I have discovered that the most irritating thing about trying to get an agent isn't rejections. Everyone always tries to make me feel better when I get rejected, but I just think, "Oh, well, onto the next one!"

No, the obnoxious thing is just waiting for an answer. Rejections are responses. But no response? That way lies Dorothy Parkerian madness.


*For those of you who care, that means it sounds like the French j, or the s in vision.

**When I'm interested in a panel, I tend to just start conversing with the panelists like I'm one of them. I don't know how to help it. I had the same problem with interesting classes.

***Perhaps I could also do something about those goddamn barking dogs all over the neighborhood. Like, hypothetically, clocking their idiot owners upside the head with a rubber ball whenever the poor mutts start yapping their fool heads off.

Comments

[cjtremlett.livejournal.com]

Hmm. I've always pronounced Daja with the fricative. I think because it reminds me of deja as in deja vu.

[baby-rissa-chan.livejournal.com]

I tended to have similar problems with conventions, which is part of why I find that working the smaller ones suits me very well. You have a purpose for being there and get to interact with people in a much more structured way, and you often get to sit down with the famous people in settings where it's perfectly appropriate to talk to them and get to know them. Also, smaller conventions are much more likely to encourage interacting with panelists than the larger ones.

Also, I am envious of you for getting to meet Tamora Pierce, and I have also been pronouncing Daja's name with an affricate, so my brain is currently imploding a little.

[daiq.livejournal.com]

I love reading your sisters blog, i was in London/Paris just 5 weeks ago so am having a trip down memory lane via her photos (it is fab!)

[http://users.livejournal.com/_wastrel/]

I'd tended to lean more in the direction of Daja being pronounced the way you say here, probably because I'd be linguistically predisposed to doing so, but it is the kind of thing I like to hear confirmed.

[westrider.livejournal.com]

...and of course bears. Everything's better with bears.

I keep trying to tell our big boss that, but she keeps coming up with designs that have other animals on them instead. Well, there are some bears, but not enough. ;)

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

Now if only we could convince Stephen Colbert ...

[piccolo-pirate.livejournal.com]

For some reason, I always used the fricative - also along the deja vu lines, I suppose. Not that that really makes sense, since there's nothing particularly French about that universe.

I did mispronounce "Tamora" for years, though. It sounded more exotic with three syllables and I'd never seen it spelled with an o before...

[cougarfang.livejournal.com]

... wait, it's not pronounced "Ta-mo-ra"?

[piccolo-pirate.livejournal.com]

NO! She says on her website that it's pronounced "Tam-ra". Crazy, no?

[cougarfang.livejournal.com]

*boggles* Huh. Learn something new every day. XD

[booksnchocolate.livejournal.com]

....
.....
......

Oh my God, you got to see Tamora Pierce IRL a;lskdfjaljgl;a;LAKSJDFLDJG;ADNFB;DKGKA FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF *EXPLODES*

...MEEP.

(ok, I'll just take my gross sobbing back to this corner)
Glad you had fun at the con!

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

I know, right? I was pretty stoked, myself!