I just finished writing Year of the Dog ! It had a massive plot hole that I had to fix which turned out to be more work than I expected. Here’s a snippet: “Hey, Auntie Nell.” He wrapped his arms around her, bussing her on the cheek and breathing in pikake flowers and shortbread cookies. And suddenly he was nine years old again, and her solid presence had made his chaotic world stable once more. “What are you doing here?” He usually took her to dinner on Wednesday nights, but today was Tuesday. The edges of her smile faltered a little before brightening right back up again. “What, I can’t visit my nephew?” She angled around him to enter his home. “Is this your new house? Looks lovely.” Which was a blatant lie, because the fixer-upper was barely livable, much less acceptable to a neat-freak like his aunt. She also left four matching pink and purple floral suitcases on the stoop behind her. Only then did Ashwin notice the cab driver standing slightly to the side of the walkway. “Can ...
10/9/04
Heather IM'd me to scold me for not updating my blog, so here goes. Not much has been happening lately. Writing isn't flowing as well as it used to, but it's still plugging along steadily. I'm gaining more insight into my characters, which is exciting.
Research for the series has been interesting. The crime is based on a private embryonic stem cell company which is also doing illegal reproductive cloning and fetal organ harvesting. The websites supporting embryonic stem cell work are both interesting and sometimes disturbing. One website kept describing therapeutically cloned embryos as "eggs." "Eggs are not babies, eggs are not fertilized," etc. But therapeutic cloning, while it doesn't use a sperm cell, produces a cell that is no longer an EGG. An egg only has half the required genetic material. A therapeutically cloned cell has a full complement of DNA and starts mitotic splitting like an embryo. Calling it an EGG is downright deceptive and a state of denial.
I guess the whole lack of respect for the sanctity of life disturbs me. People have no qualms about cloning an embryo to slaughter it for its cells, but back off when someone wants to implant said embryo in a woman's womb. I think both are wrong, but the sins are slightly different--the process of cloning violates God's right to create, but the former also violates a person's right to life. And I think the fact that cloning success rates are dismal is God's way of pointing out that His alone is the power to bring forth life.
Okay, off the soapbox.
I have to work on Sunday. Boohoo. I hope it doesn't take too long, but I have a sinking feeling it's going to be almost a full day's worth. Gotta get some writing done today, since I won't get much done tomorrow.
Heather IM'd me to scold me for not updating my blog, so here goes. Not much has been happening lately. Writing isn't flowing as well as it used to, but it's still plugging along steadily. I'm gaining more insight into my characters, which is exciting.
Research for the series has been interesting. The crime is based on a private embryonic stem cell company which is also doing illegal reproductive cloning and fetal organ harvesting. The websites supporting embryonic stem cell work are both interesting and sometimes disturbing. One website kept describing therapeutically cloned embryos as "eggs." "Eggs are not babies, eggs are not fertilized," etc. But therapeutic cloning, while it doesn't use a sperm cell, produces a cell that is no longer an EGG. An egg only has half the required genetic material. A therapeutically cloned cell has a full complement of DNA and starts mitotic splitting like an embryo. Calling it an EGG is downright deceptive and a state of denial.
I guess the whole lack of respect for the sanctity of life disturbs me. People have no qualms about cloning an embryo to slaughter it for its cells, but back off when someone wants to implant said embryo in a woman's womb. I think both are wrong, but the sins are slightly different--the process of cloning violates God's right to create, but the former also violates a person's right to life. And I think the fact that cloning success rates are dismal is God's way of pointing out that His alone is the power to bring forth life.
Okay, off the soapbox.
I have to work on Sunday. Boohoo. I hope it doesn't take too long, but I have a sinking feeling it's going to be almost a full day's worth. Gotta get some writing done today, since I won't get much done tomorrow.
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