Author Archives: Eugie Foster

Leeches ain’t so bad

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I think it says something about the flaws in my physical construction that the people at the lab work department know me on sight. The main person there recognizes me, and we have a bit of a friendly chat every time I go in. She knows I’ve got a standing order to do blood work every six weeks, and when I come in for something that isn’t one of my regular maintenance tests, she knows to verify that it’s for something else.

Sheesh, I’m a mess.

But, on an up note, she’s really, really good at what she does. It barely hurts, and she never bruises me. I’ve had ham fists who’ve pierced the damn vein, moved the needle around in my arm in an attempt to get it properly situated, and then had to re-poke me, only to miss it completely. Ow. People like that really ought to reconsider their choice of profession. But this lady always hits the vein perfectly (and I have been informed before that I have small veins), and never has to do any adjusting once the needle’s in. Tourniquet, poke, some gauze and tape, and I’m outta there. Fast, virtually painless, and she’s a sweetheart. If I gotta be jabbed frequently, can’t ask for a better experience.

Now for the waiting to see how my white blood count is doing. And my neck’s still stiff.

Okay, poll answers:

arkhamrefugee Q: “What’s a badger gotta do to get some girlies?”
A: Never having gotten any girlies, or researched much of the obtaining thereof, I’m afraid this one is beyond my ken. Alas.
cloudscudding Q: “Best writing advice you’ve never heard?”
A: It was twofold and all about being tenacious: 1. Write often, write copiously, and keep writing. 2. Submit what you’ve written until it sells.
chrishaas Q: “Who is Chris Haas?”
A: Don’t you know?
amokk Q: “Are there any nude Ms. Fantasm photos? ;)”
A: Yes, many! Oodles of them to be found by searching the Interweb! But none of me .
raecarson Q: “Which story makes you the most proud and why?”
A: Urg. That’s a hard question. I’ve got several favorites. “Running on Two Legs” because it marked a decided “next level” jump in my writing skills. I’d been working on evoking an emotional response with my writing and not being able to manage it until “Running.” It also has a lot of personal meaning and significance to me. And it was the first story that Hobkin played a major role as fuzzy muse in. “The Storyteller’s Wife” for many of the same reasons, plus it was an outlet for a lot of stress I was experiencing at the time. Amusingly, again Hobkin gets a part, being the inspiration for one of the characters. And also “Shao Huan: The Soul of a Badger” because I think it’s simply one of the very best things I’ve written to date.
angeldove Q: “When are you gonna start a family?”
A: I have a family, fosteronfilm and Hobkin, why would I need to start another one?
keesa_renee Q: “Who is/are your favorite writer(s)?”
A: Off the top of my head: Tanith Lee, Ray Bradbury, Harlan Ellison, Orson Scott Card, Roger Zelazny, Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein, George Orwell, J.R.R. Tolkien, and, um, Shakespeare. That’s not a comprehensive list, but it’s what I could come up with on the fly.
marksiegal Q: “How do you get a pet skunk to not spray?”
A: That sounds like the beginning of a bad joke. The serious answer is to have him de-scented. A fully loaded skunk is not a viable pet . . . unless you don’t have a sense of smell. But a disarmed one is all cuddly, high maintenance, fuzzy joy.
horrordiva Q: “What is your favorite genre to write in?”
A: That’s a tricky one. It varies depending upon my mood and what I’m writing at the time. I’m inclined to say “Fantasy” because I’ve been doing so much of that of late. But that could change tomorrow.

That’s it for now. Keep ’em coming!


Writing Stuff

Hurray! Received my contrib. copy of Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine #18. Pulpy goodness.

Also saw on the editor’s blog (newly syndicated to LJ by moi as bradanpress) that issue #7 of Here & Now (with my firmly-tongue-in-cheek story “My Friend is a Lesbian Zombie” slated for it) appears to be on track. Glad to see the publication schedule of that magazine appears to be sorting itself into a semblance of regularity.

New Words: 250. 100 culled.
The numbers aren’t impressive, but the story’s much tighter, and has a better focus. I still haven’t managed to get myself to the climax, but I’m on the way there.

Club 100 For Writers
4

Oopsie. Forgot about the leeches.

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Oops. I forgot that I needed to go in for followup blood work after the first of June. Going to swing by the clinic today and hope that the request is still in the computer. Otherwise I’ll need to call my Rheumatologist’s office, apologize profusely, and have them re-enter it. So yeah, going to have them leech out some blood today. Never my favorite thing, but sadly, it’s become rather commonplace for me.


Writing Stuff

In a fit of procrastination, I did some fiddling with my Excel writing logs. I’ve been sending a lot of submissions out to reprint markets–primarily foreign language ones–and my old calculation formula only kept a tally of the new works I’ve got in circulation, not including the reprints. Haven’t been keeping track of the number of simultaneous submissions either. Admittedly that’s a pretty tiny number since so very few markets are willing to accept simsubs, but I thought I ought to include those in my “what’s out” count. I was astonished to see how many reprint/simsubs I have out there.

Total new works in circulation: 29
Total works out: 49

That’s 20 reprint or simsub submissions! Zounds.

So I really ought to be due for a sale. *twiddles thumb* Any time now.

Right. Enough angsting. Back to work on the WIP.

The sandman giveth and he drags me on my head through slumberland

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Got my application to be a guest at Dragon*Con approved. It was only a formality as I’m already eyeball deep in working for the convention, so all my soul is belong to them. But it’s nice to have that little detail taken care of.

Got back into job hunt mode yesterday and sent my resume winging out to various companies. Broadened my search once again. Started targeting Developer/Programming positions in addition to Systems Analyst ones. I’d prefer not to be relegated to a total code warrior position, as I think I outgrew that several years ago, but if that’s what it takes to bring home the health insurance, then that’s what I’ll do. Programming is easy, and occasionally fun, so if that’s how the cards fall, at least it would mean a decrease in stress. Well, theoretically.

Woke up this morning with my brain feeling squishy and vague. And the way my neck feels, I think I was sleeping while doing a headstand. I can barely turn my head, it’s so stiff. Could this be the delayed post effects of Tramadol and Sudafed? Or maybe I just slept bad.


Writing Stuff

On an up note, Morpheus gifted me with a thoughtful surprise, the next plot event in the WIP short story. That was nice of him. Now if I can just get my brain de-fogged, I might be able to get some words down.

New Words: 450. 150 culled. The short story progesseth.

Club 100 For Writers
3

500/day
46

Too many drugs

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Oof. I ODed on a cocktail of stimulants last night: one Tramadol, two Sudafed, and two mugs of coffee. The peppy results were excellent, got a lot of writing done . . . for about two and a half hours. Then my stomach informed me that it was not amused by the corrosive substances I had dumped into it and proceeded to make me miserable for the rest of the night. I thought I had stumbled upon a really good productivity combination–I was clear-headed, wonderfully pain free, and energetic, with no shakes or twitches to boot–but nausea is not a price I’m willing to pay for a few good writing hours. So it’s back to being headachey, wing stubby, and logy for me.

Probably just as well. I wrestle quite enough with my caffeine addiction. I don’t need to add to it.

Stupid human shell.

This morning Matthew’s going to a staff meeting of the Atlanta film festival folks. I slept poorly, so I expect I shall do some napping while he is gone. Hoping to get cracking on some writing when I recover from my up-and-down night. Definitely want to pick up where I left off yesterday.


Writing Stuff

New Words: 1100 on a short story I began last month. I need to finish something that isn’t a folk tale and that isn’t the novel. I think my muse has been feeling cramped and needs to stretch. I opened up the file, read through what I started, and hit flow nearly as soon as I set fingers to keyboard. I’ve missed that. This story’s a light little ditty of a tale, nothing deep, no meaningful themes. But it’s fun to write, and I hope it’ll be fun to read.

Club 100 For Writers
2

500/day
45

Troy

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Watched Troy, courtesy Netflix, last night. Pretty, pretty men (in skirts). I’m not a huge Brad Pitt fan, although I liked him well enough in Interview with the Vampire, but I found him quite yummy in Troy. There were some rather egregious liberties taken with the Iliad story, and I missed the mystical element of the Greek gods, but I knew the movie had those shortcomings going into it. To tell the truth, I was pleasantly surprised. It was better than I expected, and it was a stunningly gorgeous production. Not much visceral, emotional connection to any of the characters, and of course no surprises (gosh, are they going to burn the big horsie statue or bring it in? Hmmm, I wonder.) but lovely to watch.


Writing Stuff

Received: 18-day “Your work was well received, but . . .” from Lenox Avenue on a submission for their “Mechanical Oddities” issue. Wah. This is the longest rejection string I’ve had in a while. Most disheartening.

Today would be a fantastic day to get a phone call from my agent letting me know that a publisher wants to pick up my middle-grade novel. *deafening claxon of crickets chirping* Well, it would.

A Harmony of Foxes
New words: 384
Back to work on the novel.

Zokutou word meterZokutou word meter
15,875 / 45,000
(35.0%)

Club 100 For Writers
1
(Sigh. I suck.)

Whiling away time

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It has been a spectacularly uneventful and unproductive couple of days. The most exciting thing from yesterday: geekfantasies.com. (<--therein be babes in bikinis, but I'd consider it cool-granny safe.) I showed it to fosteronfilm and we giggled at the video shorts.


Writing Stuff

Saw that the Summer 2005 issue of Paradox with my story, “The Tiger Fortune Princess,” in it is now available. Yay! I’ve always liked the artwork I’ve seen for this magazine. The cover image they’ve got up is fairly small so I can’t make out details:


But it looks pretty lush. And the editor chose a classic painting by Wu Guxiang to illustrate my story:


Looking forward to seeing the full-size artwork when I get my contrib copies. Larger images to be posted when I get them.

Brewing up some green tea, pouring myself some Cocoa Puffs (my new indulgence), and getting ready for a day chock full of writing. That’s the plan, at least.

Skunk go poof

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Hobkin’s blowing his coat. I’d forgotten what a shedding skunk was like. I pet him and there’s a cloud of fuzz in the air. After a nap, there’s long, white strands of tail on the couch and blanket. Skunk fur. Everywhere I look there’s skunk fur!

I see that LiveJournal is having a 24-hour permanent account sale. Ooo! But I really can’t rationalize spending $150 on my blog. Damn.


Writing Stuff

I found out that “Running on Two Legs,” which appeared in #40 of The Third Alternative, was nominated for the 2005 British Fantasy Award for Best Short Story! It’s terribly unlikely it’ll win, or hell, even make the short list, considering the competition (I’m up against Neil Gaiman for starters), but I’m tickled neon fuchsia to be nominated. Squee!

Any BFS members who haven’t read “Running on Two Legs” are welcome to drop me an email. I’ll forward on a .PDF for your reading pleasure.

Also received the contracts from Cricket for “Li T’ien and the Demon Nian” and “Cuhiya’s Husband.” Signed and mailed them back. “Li T’ien” is slated for the Jan. 2006 issue. Yay! Eagerly looking forward to seeing it, as well as getting word of when the others stories Cricket‘s bought will be scheduled for publication.

And got a 242-day reject from the Damned Nation anthology. A near miss: “We are especially sorry to have to send this after sitting on [your story] for so long, but we had a number of excellent stories we remained undecided about until the last minute, and yours was one of them . . . Please know that this was a very close call.”

Fooie. I would like a sale now.

When you’re unemployed, every day is a Saturday

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At this point, I figure the company I interviewed with doesn’t want me. Pook. I’ll send them a query tomorrow to verify, but as I haven’t heard from them in the prescribed time, I think it’s safe to assume they were underwhelmed by me. Damn. On the positive side, it means I’m still footloose and fancy free, living the life of leisure. At least until my unemployment runs out . . . and my COBRA coverage. Gleep.


Writing Stuff

Okay. On the quest of researching some non-Asian folk tale/myths to tempt my muse, I trooped upstairs to the library and broke out the source material: Edith Hamilton and Thomas Bulfinch for the Greek (and Roman) myths, and E.A. Wallis Budge for the Egyptian.

I really love Greek myths–I’m a purist, I much prefer the Greek ones to the Roman. But every re-telling/re-imagining concept I come up with is for an adult audience, not a younger one. I’ve done a couple Greek stories in the past, and they’re dark. Very, very dark. Not saying that kids can’t handle dark, after all, I read Oedipus Rex when I was twelve, but still . . .

So I closed the Bulfinch’s and started in on the Budge’s. The Egyptian myths just aren’t gelling. They don’t suck me in the way a story needs to in order for it to tempt me to recreate it, to give it my own voice and spin. It could be Budge’s tone, which is very true to the translation and extremely dry. On one side of the text are the actual hieroglyphics, and on the other is the literal English translation. Not the best storytelling format, although can’t fault his rigid adherence to academic accuracy.

So I went back to the Asian myths. Yup. Within moments, I found myself snagged by the concept of the Kitchen God and his story. That sent me off on another research branch, and my imagination started fizzing.

I’m also starting to itch to get back to the novel. Hope that bodes good things for this week.

Decadent Sunday Morning

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Eating Cocoa Puffs for breakfast, got a warm skunk curled at my side, and am watching a trashy made-for-TV movie on TNT about a heroic librarian. Life is good.

Went out without fosteronfilm to run a couple errands yesterday–bank, post office, and grocery store–because the first two places close before noon, and my hubby doesn’t typically stir before mid-day. I didn’t think I was all that dolled up–hadn’t bothered to put in my contacts and just tossed on some comfy pants and a black shirt–but I got several compliments out of the blue from fellow grocery story/bank goers. One guy started flirting with me in the produce section, and a sweet little old lady came up to me and told me how pretty I was. It made me happy. Puzzled, but happy. Apparently I need to venture out of the house, without Matthew to scare off admirers, more often .

However, I confused the bank teller to no end when I presented him my check from ‘9‘ to deposit. It being in euros confounded him. And I am less than impressed by the exchange rate I got. When he finally figured it out (after calling in another bank person to consult), the whole situation so discombobulated him that he forgot to deposit the other two checks I’d given him (in US Dollars even). When I saw the HUGE discrepancy in the receipt he gave me, I made a beeline back to his window. He was properly apologetic, but still, it was a really big mistake, as in over $400 big. Going to keep a close eye on our balance until that transaction clears to make sure everything totals up properly. I’m rather worried that the concept of foreign currency is so perplexing to my bank.


Writing Stuff

My Cricket queue is once again empty and I find I’m still in a good mindset for folk tales. I keep wanting to dabble in something Egyptian, but every time I start doing research on Egyptian myths and legends, I get side tracked and end up doing something Chinese again as a default. Chinese is easier, dammit. It’s like remembering something I already know rather than learning something totally from scratch. Maybe I’ll compromise and do something Japanese again, or Indian. Or wackiest of wackies, Greek! I love Greek mythology, but it’s so done. It’s so much harder coming up with a fresh spin or a unique voice on it. *ponder ponder ponder* O beauteous (and pernicious) muse of writing, talk to me!