Author Archives: Eugie Foster

Happy July 4th!

By | |
Leave a comment

To properly observe the holiday, fosteronfilm and I put on our laser disc of Independence Day. My hubby complained that we were watching it downstairs instead of on the big screen in the home theater, but despite the “minuscule” screen, I enjoyed it. I’ve been in a mood for explosions and jaw-dropping special effects of late.

Hope everyone has a fabulous, fun, and safe 4th of July!


Writing Stuff

Progress on The List:
1. Do rewrite of “Oranges, Lemons, and Thou Beside Me.” Added 400 words in more passes than I can remember. Going to give it another read-through (or three) and then send it back to the editor for approval. Done and sent off to editor.
2. Finish critique in-progress. Done.
3. Finish researching and write WIP folktale.
4. Compile stats & finish rewrite of current story up at Critters. In progress.
5. Compose and send thank you notes for crits of Critters story. Whew, caught up.
6. Review material for Tangent.
7. Get back to work on the novel.

Chugging along.

Club 100 For Writers
26

Live8 Footage

By | |
2 Comments

Watched some of the MTV Live8 coverage. Is it me, or has concert coverage gotten spectacularly stupid? You’d think if a person’s tuning in to a concert broadcast, they’d want to see the concert, right? Pretty performers making appealing sounds with musical instruments and all. Yet, time and time again, the camera would pull away from the show on stage to spotlight the commentators who would then go on to inform the audience that they were at this monumental concert, isn’t it great, isn’t it fabulous? And all the time the performance is happening behind them as they jabber at the camera. WTF?


Writing Stuff

Received the French contract for “The Storyteller’s Wife” from Faeries. They included a pretty bookmark that had “welcome” handwritten on it. Little, personal gestures like that from editors/publishers make me happy. Signed the contract, but have to wait until Tuesday to mail it back. I thought they were paying me in U.S. dollars, but the contract stipulates euros, which I’m actually happier about since the the exchange rate is currently in my favor. Although it does mean I’ll have to deal with the inevitable confusion and blank looks from my bank when I go to deposit the check.

Also, it seems that the Polish translation of “All in My Mind” has been published in the July issue of Nowa Fantastyka.

Here’s the cover:

I’m listed in the table of contents. Except, erm, I never received a contract from these folks. And I’ve queried the editor a couple times and haven’t heard anything back. So, woohoo, I’ve been published in Polish! But also, guh? I really wish I knew someone who could read and write Polish. I feel the need for a translator to help me out with my correspondences. I shall remain optimistic and assume I’ll get paid. Eventually. And hey, according to the website, they have a print run of 45K.

Progress on The List:
1. Do rewrite of “Oranges, Lemons, and Thou Beside Me.” Added 400 words in more passes than I can remember. Going to give it another read-through (or three) and then send it back to the editor for approval.
2. Finish critique in-progress.
3. Finish researching and write WIP folktale.
4. Compile stats & finish rewrite of current story up at Critters.
5. Compose and send thank you notes for crits of Critters story.
6. Review material for Tangent.
7. Get back to work on the novel.

Oof. Still feeling overwhelmed.

Club 100 For Writers
25

500/day
59

Laying out weekend plans

By | |
1 Comment

Had a funtastic evening last night with glenn5. He swung by bearing key lime pie; we made pizza and watched Golden Eye, mostly because I was hankering for something actiony with many exploding bits.

Had an interesting dream experience this morning. Hobkin woke me up, clamoring for breakfast, and he got me out of an icky dream. Not scary, but really frustrating–the kind where no one listens to you and are intent upon doing the exact wrong thing in a perilous circumstance, and no matter how you plead and reason with them, they ignore you. Cassandra complex, anyone? Left me feeling frustrated and annoyed as I fixed veggies for the fuzzwit, and also still veeeery sleepy. After I fed Hobkin, I went back to bed. Woke up on my own two hours later from a dream that was the resolution to the earlier one, where I’d managed to come up with a cunning plan to get people to pay attention, and I was just putting the plan into action. Woke up feeling optimistic and refreshed.

I’ve had multi-part dreams before, where I’ve woken up briefly and then gone back into the same dreamscape upon falling back asleep. But not after such a long gap that included getting out of bed, and not like this one. It was so focused, more like a movie with story arc, climax, and resolution.

Weird. But I’m glad I woke up after part II. I feel much better than I did two hours ago.


Writing Stuff

Sold “Oranges, Lemons, and Thou Beside Me” to Apex, pending final okay on a rewrite. The editor wants more intensity. I can do intensity. This is the story that got orphaned when Transfinite blipped out of existence with no warning and a total communication blackout, so I’m glad this tale has found such an excellent new home.

Received the contract from jinzi for “In Suffering Lies Salvation.” Signed and mailed it back.

I suddenly have so many things on my writing plate that I’m a bit overwhelmed. Whenever that happens, I make a list, which helps me sort out and prioritize what needs doing. So:

1. Do rewrite of “Oranges, Lemons, and Thou Beside Me” for Apex.
2. Finish critique in-progress.
3. Finish researching and write WIP folktale.
4. Compile stats & finish rewrite of current story up at Critters.
5. Compose and send thank you notes for crits of Critters story.
6. Review material for Tangent.
7. Get back to work on the novel.

I’m still feeling overwhelmed.

Club 100 For Writers
24

I like science and writing. Duh.

By | |
5 Comments

Attended the third of three mandatory unemployment workshops yesterday. The theme was “Occupational Choices” with a focus on identifying what sort of work and what sort of working environments you’re best suited for. They gave out a little test that asked you if you liked, disliked, or were ambivalent about 180 jobs/work activities, and based on your answers you got scored on six classifications: Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, and Conventional. I scored high in “Investigative” (i.e. science and research) followed closely by “Artistic” (i.e. creative writing and editing), and then trailing a bit behind them, “Conventional” (i.e. programming and systems analysis). Well, duh. That was a complete waste of three hours.

On a much more worthwhile note, jim0052 is exploring the concept of found poetry–“the notion that poetry can often be found unconsciously lurking in people’s everyday prose”–which is pretty damn neat. Even spiffier, he made one of my recent LJ posts into a poem! Is that not the coolest?


Writing Stuff

Spent the evening laboriously reworking the obsession short story. Added the beginning scene, revamped the personality of the secondary character, and modified the ending, which brought back in the speculative element. Whew. Did pass after pass, and then, sick to death of it, I sent it out. Yep, I skipped the critique step and just lobbed it out the door. I suspect I will regret that in the not too distant future. At which point, I’ll toss it up to Critters. But the way I figured it, there’s still another week to go on this batch, and I’m hoping to have a folktale up for critique next, which means a good several weeks before I could get this story into the queue. May as well hurl it a someone during that time. Hmm, I might be getting a bit cavalier on the marketing front . . .

Next up, I can either finish the rewrite I’ve been poking at, or roll up my sleeves and get to work on the new folktale. Well, Muse, whatcha wanna do?

Club 100 For Writers
23

500/day
58

Blood-sucking bitey bugs

By | |
3 Comments

Went blackberry picking again yesterday, and the mosquitoes honed in on me as soon as I stepped foot outside. They know, somehow, that I’m particularly sensitive to their nips; if they prick me even for just a second before I smack ’em, I swell up into huge hives. They know this and out of sadistic glee, flock to me. I got half a dozen bites and was out for less time than fosteronfilm and they only nailed him once or twice. *grumble grumble itch*


Writing Stuff

I figured out what the new scene needed to be, as well as where it should go: at the beginning. Brilliant. *facepalm* I also figured out that the way to bring out the protagonist’s motive is to have him address the audience, narratively. Rah. Several editing passes and now I’m sick of looking at it. Want to do a couple more before I put it down, but I’m already dwelling on my folktale notes. Must. Focus. One thing at a time, dammit.

Club 100 For Writers
22

500/day
57

Firefly–not the Joss Whedon variety.

By | |
20 Comments

I saw my first firefly of the year last night! There were tiny golden flashes coming from our Faerie circle in the backyard. Glowbugs don’t seem as commonplace down here as they were in the Midwest. I wonder if that’s actually the case, or if I simply don’t see them as much because I don’t spend as much time running around outside after dark as I did when I was a little girl.


Writing Stuff

Oof. Publishing karma giveth, and it smacketh me on the head.

Received:
26-day “enjoyed it but . . .” from Aeon with invite to submit again. Fooie. All the cool kids are getting published in Aeon; I wanna get published there too! *whine*
90-day pass from the McElderberry imprint of Simon & Schuster on my middle-grade novel. The novel rejects are hitting me harder and harder. The editor had nice things to say, but a “no” is feeling pretty much like a thwack in the gut, regardless of how nicely it’s phrased. Where did I put my skin thickener?

There’s still another week for this batch up at Critters and I am totally inundated by crits. I am very, very behind on my thank you notes, and I’m ready for the flood of feedback to stop so I can finish my rewrite. Gleep. An embarrassment of riches. But, on an up note, it’s been extremely well received.

New Words: 900
Short story ground to “the end,” and I’m supremely dissatisfied with it. It didn’t go where I thought it was going to, and for a dark tale of obsession, it’s downright subdued. Not to mention my speculative element fizzled into virtual non-existence. It’s coming in at 3K, so I’ve got plenty of room to grow it, but I’ve been spinning my wheels. I think it needs a really pivotal scene that it’s currently missing, but I don’t know what that scene might be. Matthew first readered it and his main comment was: “Err, what were you trying to do with this one?” Which pretty much confirms that it’s unfocused and I lost control of it in there . . . somewhere. So frustrating! Bad story. No biscuit.

Club 100 For Writers
21

500/day
56

Tagged again!

By | |
26 Comments

I ducked, I dodged, but amberdine tackled me, fair and square. I have been tagged.

List 5 reasons why you are a geek. And make them good reasons. Justify them. Explain them. Be loud and proud about how big of a geek you are! Then pick the 5 biggest geeks you know and have them do the meme.

1. I think men in stormtrooper uniforms, tights, cloaks, chainmail, and fangs (not necessarily all at the same time) are sexy. Even better if they can also quote scenes from Buffy: The Vampire Slayer and use “grok” in a sentence. Likewise, men who can tear duct tape without using a knife, can set up a computer network from scratch, and who sew their own costumes turn me on.

2. The idea of a weekend long D&D gaming marathon makes me happy.

3. An afternoon spent at the Office Depot, spending a $20 gift card, is my idea of a fun outing. I like fondling Sharpie markers and went “squee” when fosteronfilm got me a USB flash drive for Christmas.

4. Editing is teh fun. I have grammatical pet peeves and become insufferably smug when I eradicate (someone else’s) tyops.

5. I went to a high school where the only winning teams were chess and math club. It also didn’t even have (and still doesn’t have, and probably never will have) a football team, although it routinely earns the distinction of the school with the highest class average ACT scores in the country. Go, Uni!

There are far too many geeks on my flist to pick five. Do the meme if it floats your socks, I sez.

And, for Monday fun, check out The Brick Testament, Bible stories illustrated with Legos. (Link ganked from the lovely and talented patricia_kirby.) And for something more secular, the award-winning “Blade of the Bunny” by dsnight, again illustrated with Legos. (Monday’s theme?)

Feeling much better today. Yesterday’s sale was just the thing to perk me right up. I’m such a sales junkie.


Writing Stuff

Started a new short story, a dark thing. It promises to be longer than flash, but relatively short. I’m hoping less than 4K.

New Words: 1000

Club 100 For Writers
19

500/day
54

French convergence

By | |
6 Comments

Still wrestling with my brain. It is unrepentant and surly. Did not go the caffeine route since it was so ineffective yesterday, which resulted in a midday nap. When I woke up, we watched Immortel (ad vitam), a collaboration between Japanese and French filmmakers that was totally shot green screen. I’ve heard that it was the very first completely green screen movie, but I understand there’s some argument about that. Regardless, it was very strange and very beautiful. The storyline was baffling, and there seemed to be no attempt to explain any of the questions the movie poised–which, if you think about it is pretty much what you’d expect if you fused a French movie with a Japanese one–but it was gorgeous, full of lush imagery and fanciful characters. I liked it.


Writing Stuff

Woohoo! I sold French reprint rights of “The Storyteller’s Wife” to Faeries, a French fantasy magazine. It’s slated for either the September or November issue. My first French language publication!

fosteronfilm first readered my two flash stories, although he was at something of a loss with both of them. I don’t think he knows what to do with something so short. He liked them both, he said, which works for me. Spent much of yesterday’s writing time polishing them up: editing, rewriting, and tightening. Then debated whether I wanted to upload them to Critters. Decided not to. I don’t usually run my flash through the critique gauntlet and these, coming in at about 1K, were on the edge, but still too short. Printed them out, prepared submission packages, and will mail them tomorrow, which brings the number of new works I have in circulation back above thirty again.

Club 100 For Writers
18

Moody foo

By | |
8 Comments

Woke up feeling rather on the crappy side of things, emotionally. No reason. Just the vagaries of my chemical system. I know the Prozac needs to take a while to build up before it kicks in. Obviously, it hasn’t yet. I tried to self-medicate with copious caffeine, but it didn’t help. Instead I ended up feeling jittery as well as depressed. Lovely.


Writing Stuff

Channeled my vile mood into my writing. Apparently my muse was feeling goth, because she just ate up my blue funk. Good for her. I wasn’t up to picking up any of my WIPs–deficient attention span to go with my grim emotional state–so I did some flash. That worked surprisingly well. I actually started and completed two <1K pieces. Cathartic success. Twisted little things, the both of them. I handed one over to fosteronfilm to first reader. The second one I think needs a tweak or two at the end to punch it up before I show it to him.

I may feel like a cement mixer rolled over my soul, but at least it’s pumping ye olde writing bellows. Yay?

New Words: 2000

Club 100 For Writers
17

500/day
53