Author Archives: Eugie Foster

Insert clever title here

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The lymph swellings are better, I think, although still tender. I was worried it was going to turn into an ear infection, and with COBRA still up in the air, I was just praying it wouldn’t turn into a fever.


Writing Stuff

Got an odd query from someone via my Tangent email. From what I could tell, they wanted to sent me a story for publication (?) and wanted me to snail mail something back to them (they said “your information”). Wha? We don’t publish fiction, nor do we review unpublished stories. And I remain unclear as to what exactly they expected me to mail back to them. Weird. Obviously, someone who had no clue.

My current folktale is up at Critters. So far, ten crits. *gurgle* It’s been mostly well-received. The obligatory “this is written too sophisticated for younger readers” crit came in already, but that’s nothing new.

19-day “well received but . . . ” from Abyss & Apex
191-day “quite some discussion on this one, and it’s not without support but . . .” from Andy at Interzone with invite to submit more.

Words: 809 on A Harmony of Foxes.

Zokutou word meterZokutou word meter
10,858 / 45,000
(24.0%)


Club 100 For Writers
18

500/day
34

Stupid headache. WIP finally has a working title

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Had a throbbing, relentless headache yesterday that was resistant to many pills. Had to take a double dose of both Sudafed and Excedrin in order to put it down, and then I was left queasy, shaky, and short of breath. Now I’ve got swollen lymph glands at my throat and under my ear, which indicates that my immune system is gearing up for a big freak out . . . again. Just can’t seem to get a break on the health front.


Writing Stuff

In a dose of the painfully ironic, I felt driven to do research on the novel while in the worst pangs of my headache, so ended up squinting at my screen and wincing at how bright it was, as I surfed and took notes. But when the pills finally started kicking in, before the nausea had peaked, I managed to get productive and crank out words.

I think I’m driving Matthew nuts, playing the recordings of guqin music I found on the Internet. To Western ears (including mine, initially), it can be somewhat jarring and atonal, but the more I research it and traditional Chinese music in general, the more I’m beginning to appreciate its unique qualities. It’s also doing an excellent job of keeping my muse in the proper mindset. I might want to see about using some headphones though.

Words: 880 on the novel WIP. Finally have a working title for the thing: A Harmony of Foxes. It seemed like as soon as I settled on something to call it, aside from “novel work in progress,” the two-line “sound byte” I’ve been tweaking and poking at for the last couple days came together:

A Harmony of Foxes is a young adult novel set in China’s Western Han Dynasty. It is about two star-crossed lovers–a fox spirit youth, and a blind noblewoman–who teach each other the nature of trust and love, in defiance of both their peoples.

Zokutou word meterZokutou word meter
10,049 / 45,000
(22.0%)


Club 100 For Writers
17

500/day
33

ISFJ

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ISFJ-The Protector
You scored 9% I to E, 57% N to S, 38% F to T, and 15% J to P!
The protector type is called such because you feel your life is best used to protect those you love from the pitfalls of life, to see to their safety and security. You belong to the larger group called guardians. You find great satisfaction in assisting the downtrodden. You are not talkative with strangers, but you can chat tirelessly with those you trust. You have a good solid work ethic. You are thorough and very likely frugal. You do not like to be in a place of authority, and will delegate poorly if forced into a lead position. You share your type with 10% of the population.
As a romantic partner, you are generous and gentle. Occasionally you may be taken for granted because of this fact. You are tireless in providing acts of service for your loved ones. You run the risk of always being exhausted because you won’t say no to your partner. You are sensitive to criticism and will withdraw rather than fight back. You wish to be appreciated for your loyalty and whole hearted nuturing. Your values must be respected and you thrive on consideration and kindness.
Your group summary: Guardians (SJ)
Your Type Summary: ISFJ

My test tracked 4 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender:

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You scored higher than 7% on I to E
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You scored higher than 79% on N to S
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You scored higher than 30% on F to T
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You scored higher than 7% on J to P

Link: The LONG Scientific Personality Test written by unpretentious2 on Ok Cupid

Making progress

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Got a call from the second head hunter people. They want to set up a telephone interview with the insurance guys for next week. I suck at phone interviews. I’m usually okay face-to-face, but I can’t gauge body language and make eye contact and all that nifty stuff with just a voice encounter. I just don’t make as good of a first impression on the phone as I do in person. Well, crap. Nothing to do but try my best, I suppose. But I anticipate this will severely decrease my chances of getting that position.


Writing Stuff

Words: 935 on the novel WIP. Downloaded a slew of guqin music. A guqin is a sort of Chinese zither, a very old and traditional instrument, and it plays an important role in my novel. Doing a lot of research on it, and I realized I didn’t have a good enough idea of what it sounded like considering how key it is. So spent an hour or so, playing mp3 clips I found online. An interesting background to write to, but very fitting for this particular work. Also did a lot of research on the playing technique and things like theme and musical philosophy.

Been working on a sound byte “pitch” but everything I come up seems to have a ring of pretension to it. What reads as dramatic and interesting on paper sounds over-the-top and silly out loud. Grmph.

Zokutou word meterZokutou word meter
9,169 / 45,000
(20.0%)


Club 100 For Writers
16

500/day
32

On an even keel

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Hobkin woke me up at the ungodly hour of 7AM this morning. How did he wake me up? By hitting me in the face with his tail, and then using my breast as a launching pad to the floor. Ooof. I think that’s going to leave a bruise.

My mood appears to have leveled out to a point where I can ignore it or deal with it, as need be. I’m very fortunate that my depressive episodes tend to be brief, and mostly manageable. I assume it helps that I can recognize the symptoms in myself so quickly and usually head things off before they spiral out of control. ‘Course I haven’t had to deal with truly severe depression, which I doubt my coping mechanisms would be able to handle as well. But that’s what psychotropics are for, right?

I expect to have a couple job interviews this week. I’m in a good situation with both of them, in that if they don’t offer me the position, I’m okay with it. I’m not sure how long I can afford to maintain that sort of cavalier attitude, but for now, it’s a luxury I’m indulging in.


Writing Stuff

Did a Critters critique, my first in longer than I can remember (for your story, britzkrieg). I’m very behind in writing reviews of Strange Horizons for Tangent. For some reason, my enthusiasm for the exercise is down. I don’t know why.

I was admiring the artwork for “The Storyteller’s Wife” (see this post to view it), and I just can’t get over how much the illustrator, Heather Hudson, got the “Hobs” character to look like Hobkin (which, of course, he was inspired by). I’m just tickled. Makes me grin every time I look at it.


Detail of illustration.
And, for comparison, a couple pictures of Hobkin:

Call from Ann, Revenant, Fan Mail

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Writing Stuff

Got a lovely phone call last night from Ann Crispin. We chatted for almost an hour. She’s going to send me an electronic copy of her new novel, and she suggested I write a sound byte blurb for my current WIP so I can have something to rattle off to publishers on the fly, as a quick pitch. Gleep. Novel pitch. Going to spend some time today working on that. It’s so much harder to scrunch a project into a sentence or two than it is to write a multi-page synopsis.

Received:
– 8-day rejection from F&SF from JJA. “Nice writing here but . . . ” Dammit, I just can’t get past him, anymore! I miss those “alases” from GVG”
– My contrib. copy of the Revenant: A Horror Anthology chapbook with “Caesar’s Ghost” in it. My story’s in the esteemed “last” spot. Neato.
– Fan mail! Got an email from a reader about “The Storyteller’s Wife” in the current Realms. He called it a “marvelous gem of a story.” I love fan mail.

In less good, RoF news, I found out that Carina is resigning from her position as slush reader. That totally sucks. I understand why she’s doing it (and how). Her position was unpaid, and she recently got engaged, plus her singing career is taking off, so she really doesn’t have the time anymore for the huge time glut that slush reading is. But I’m so going to miss her. She was the best slush reader Realms has ever had, and I’m not just saying that because she passed so many of my stories on to Shawna.

‘Nother interview, movie night, RoF issue

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And the 2004 tax season comes to an end. Actually went out yesterday to the post office to mail something non-tax related, and didn’t have to wait in line. It was only after we were on our way out of the parking lot that it occurred to us that we’d risked life and limb, mailing something on tax day. Huh. Maybe the e-filing push is really working?

To celebrate the day, we had glenn5 and arkhamrefugee over to watch Fight Club and Harvey. glenn5 had never seen Fight Club before. Whee! More people to introduce to the glory and wonder which is Fight Club! Much fun.

Also got a call yesterday from another head hunter outfit. They want to schedule me for an interview next week with a large insurance company for basically the same sort of job I had before, for approximately the same wages and benefits. And get this, they’re based out of approximately the same part of town my previous work office was located before, which is a much nicer daily drive than a downtown commute would be. Same job, different company. Seems like a good opportunity to get back into the salary rat race. Not exactly excited about the prospect of being a cubicle monkey again, but I have to admit the appeal of a plump, regular income with snazzy health benefits is seductive. I’ll take the position if they offer it to me, but I won’t be crushed if they don’t. Plus, this company is undergoing some major legal investigation by the Securities and Exchange commission–something I wasn’t aware of until glenn5 brought it to my attention–so I’m not sure what to think of all that.

But I’m happy that I continue to get calls.

Also, it’s undoubtedly old news by now, but heard yesterday from the Dragon*Con Director’s mailing list that Joss Whedon has been confirmed as a guest. Fangirl squeeing! He’ll be joining Adam Baldwin, Nathan Fillion, Ron Glass, Jewel Staite and Morena Baccarin to pimp Serenity. Now I’ve just got to find a way to sneak out of the Daily Dragon office for long enough to attend one of their panels.


Writing Stuff

Got my subscription copy of June’s Realms of Fantasy in the mail yesterday with “The Storyteller’s Wife” in it. Happy dancing! It’s the lead story again, and full-sized and up close, the illustration is even more gorgeous! They also published my photo in the “contributors” section.

But I haven’t received my contrib. copies. Hmph.

In worrisome news, the Transfinite website appears to be down, and their guidelines listing is gone from Ralan.com. I’m rather concerned that my poor story has been orphaned. I’ve fired off an email to the editor. Waiting to hear back.

Elektra, Skunk Pix

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Got Elektra from Netflix yesterday. It was beautiful. Fantastic cinematography, amazing fight choreography, gorgeous imagery. Now if we’d only turned the volume off. This Eastern-influence thing on Hollywood is great and all, but why the hell are they also incorporating the fragmented, bizarre storytelling? Would it kill them to find a good writer? They can obviously afford top-notch fight directors and trainers! Sheesh. And where the hell was that movie set in? The architecture looked Japanese, except for the population, which was white . . . except for the yakuza assassins, of course. Glargh.

Fun, yes, but really crappy writing. Again.

So this isn’t a total gripe-fest post, fat skunk belly! Yes, Hobkin needs to go on a diet.

Continue reading →

Eternal Sunshine and Job Status

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Interview: they’re calling me back today to schedule a follow-up. See Friends-Only post for details.

Got The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind from Netflix. I was pretty unexcited about the prospect of a Jim Carrey movie as I’m not exactly a fan of his. But it was actually really good, despite Carrey’s presence. It helped that he wasn’t doing his goofy, over-the-top “Jim Carrey” thing, but also, the story was really poignant and thoughtful. It was good. And I really adore Kate Winslet.

Having major technical issues. Comcast keeps fading in and out, making accomplishing anything Internet-related impossible.


Writing Stuff

Had Matthew first reader the folktale. Did two editing passes on it based upon his suggestions.

Club 100 For Writers
14