Author Archives: Eugie Foster

Packing Hobkin up today for skunk camp. As is our tradition, the little guy is spending Christmas with his godmother, Debbie, and her ten skunks as we can’t take him with us to Illinois. I always get anxious and forlorn when we send him away. We totally trust Debbie with Hobkin, and he loves it there, but I’ll miss the little guy terribly. I’m not sure if I can sleep anymore without him cuddled in my arms.

Writing Stuff:
My Cyberpunk article is now up at the Internet Review of Science Fiction. Hurray! And the acting editor-in-chief assures me my check is in the mail.

The Critters critiques continue to roll in. I think I’m up to twenty-two. Matthew really liked the SF story I had him first-reader. He said it “has the potential to be one of your best.” Huh. Sometimes I just can’t figure my hubby. He also made some excellent suggestions, which I’ll implement before sending the thing up to Critters.

I’m not going to try for word count over the holidays, although I will continue to be on the lookout for my muse, should she decide to make an appearance.

Accomplished:
– Updated my eugiefoster.com website to include an “Appearances” page to list the conventions I’ll be attending next year.
– Word count: Completed one of the flash stories I started for jack_yoniga‘s and dys7topia‘s contests. Going to sit on it for a day or so to let it stew, then send it out. Still working on the other one. Did an editing pass on the SF story. Also picked up a discarded fantasy story (“Rue and Ruin”) and wrenched forth a couple hundred words. Close ’nuff to 500.

Club 100 for Writers
30/100

500/day
18

Watched While You Were Sleeping yesterday, a very sweet holiday romantic comedy and one of our annual favorites. Although I don’t think Sandra Bullock lived up to the potential from that early hit of hers.

Christmas shopping: now 100% done.
Wrapping: 97% done.

Writing Stuff:
Woohoo! This was a very good mail day. Not only did I get norilana‘s Dreams of the Compass Rose, but my contributor’s copies of the February 2005 issue Realms of Fantasy came in the mail as did the Winter 2004 issue of The Third Alternative! Only “Returning My Sister’s Face” is in the Feb ’05 Realms, which means I can look forward to another issue to run “The Storyteller’s Wife.”

And what has me jumping even higher with glee is that “Returning My Sister’s Face” is the FIRST story in Realms and “Running on Two Legs” is the LAST story in TTA–both honored spots. My name’s also on the cover of TTA!

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Christmas shopping 2004 is officially complete! Oh, wait, almost officially complete. One more item to buy, but I know exactly what that prezzie is, and it’s just a matter of going to the store and getting it.

Braved the totally insane crowds yesterday. My God! Every single shopping center in the Metro Atlanta area was a teeming, foaming-at-the-mouth mob of holiday shoppers. Madness and insanity galore. But reasonably jolly insanity, as far as these things go. Didn’t see any egregious acts of outrage or temper. We did, however, end up standing in many, many lines.

Prezzie wrapping is 90% done, too.

Watched The Long Kiss Goodnight, a very under-appreciated Christmas action flick starring Geena Davis, while polishing off a bag of moose munch. Then had an extended soak in the hot tub. These nippy temperatures are perfect hot tubbing weather.

Ho ho ho. And the holiday season progresseth.

Writing Stuff:
Up to twelve critiques on the current Critters offering. I’ve been with this workshop for so long that the majority of the crits I receive are from folks I know–either I’ve read and critiqued their stuff, or they’ve critiqued me before, or both. There are a few critters who I keep wondering if it would be better for everyone concerned if I just write them a polite note telling them not to bother critiquing me anymore. It’s not that I don’t like them or are offended by their comments; it’s that they, well, suck as critiquers. For me at least. Maybe they’re a font of wisdom for other writers, but the comments they give me (I use too many big words, they don’t understand my similes, my sentences are longer than six words, etc.) are utterly worthless.

There’s especially this one guy who’s copiously published in semi-pro markets (the pays $1 or $5/story, no-circulation-and-no-one’s-heard-of-them variety), but in the years that he’s been with Critters (longer than me, even), his writing hasn’t improved an iota. And from the comments I get from him, it’s obvious why. He’s just not a good judge of writing–either of his own work or anyone else’s. I barely even bother reading his critiques when I get them. Would it be more honest of me to tell him he’s wasting his time, or to just sigh and keep getting his useless critiques? I’ve stopped reading his stories in the queue, because I think it unlikely that he will progress beyond the level he’s been hovering at for the last several years. It’s a waste of my time. It’s not that he’s a bad writer; it’s that I don’t think he’ll ever become a good one and any feedback I give appears to be utterly futile.

I dunno.

britzkrieg and rigel_kent brought a veritable feast with them when they came over last night. Cheesecake and soda and veggies and spinach dip and beer and deviled eggs and bubbly mineral water. Oof. Still stuffed full of chocolate mousse cheesecake and spinach dip. Mmm, spinach dip. As far as the movie went, it’s amazing how much they added to the extended version! Then again, considering the thing’s over four hours long, perhaps that’s not so amazing. Shiny Lord of the Ring goodness. Oooo.

And they got me Tanith Lee’s 34 (written as Esther Garber) for Christmas! *wiggles with glee* Trying to force myself to hold off on reading it so I can bring it with me when we go to visit the in-laws, but I don’t think I’ll be able to exercise that much self-restraint.

Hobkin was mostly good. He ran amok for a bit and stole a carrot and sugar snap pea from the vegetable tray (and then didn’t deign to eat them), but mostly he flopped beside me. He was pretty tuckered out from all the excitement though. After our guests left, he slept very hard. Got himself a case of major sleep fur:

And was quite indignant when I started snapping pictures of him all disheveled and all.

It was an excellent night. Much fun had by all! Thanks for the wonderful time, britzkrieg and rigel_kent!

Had a doctor’s appointment yesterday at 4:30. The traffic was ludicrously horrible. Stupid me for scheduling an appointment during rush hour right off I-285W, but I hadn’t expected it to be that bad. I was pretty excited merging from 400 to 285 if I was moving. Sheesh. It’s a good thing I allowed myself plenty of time to get there. With various and sundry driving I had to do yesterday, I estimate I was on the road for over three hours. Yuck.

The doctor wants to see me again in four months. When the nurse who handles his appointments asked me if 4:30 was good for me again, I replied with a whole-hearted, vehement “no!” So my follow-up appointment is at 11. Here’s hoping I don’t get caught in the lunch hour rush. But it can’t possibly be as awful as eager commuters on their drive home . . . Can it?

Tonight britzkrieg and rigel_kent are coming over for a festive viewing of the extended DVD version of Return of the King on our big screen TV. Hurray!

Writing Stuff:
Finished my review for Tangent of this week’s Sci-Fiction story. Must make sure I do next week’s promptly, as after Wednesday, I’ll be totally caught up in Foster family holiday traditions and celebrations, and I doubt I’ll have time or inclination to write a review.

Saw on the Speculations Rumor Mill that norilana was doing a Holiday Giveaway of her two books Dream of the Compass Rose and Lords of Rainbow for reviews. Of course, being a total book-a-holic, I glomped on the offer and soon Dreams of the Compass Rose will magically appear in my mailbox (via the USPS fairy). Very much looking forward to what promises to be an excellent read.

Received nine critiques from Critters so far on the fantasy princess story. Currently, the overall consensus is positive, save for the ending, which readers find too abrupt and unclear. Irked, I read it through again, and found I was totally inclined to agree with that assessment. I’ve already started on a fairly major nip and tuck to the ending to get it patched up. Not in a huge rush, as my first market of choice for this one is Cicada, and currently the Cricket group is considering three submissions of mine to their various publications, and I’ve got a queue of backlogged stories waiting when those clear. Still not 100% sure if this is a good YA fit, but I’ll leave that for my lovely editor to decide.

Word count: 350 on the princess fantasy + two editing passes + 200 on the SF WIP.

And the SF story is done, done, done! It’s in terrible need of a major edit before I want to show it to Matthew, but I’ve got the whole story down from beginning to end! What a relief.

Sometimes, when I finish something, I just have a feeling, a certainty that “this is good stuff.” Other times, I know it’s not my best. Of course, it seems to make no difference what my thoughts on the matter are regarding how quickly and to where it sells, but I do have an opinion of the completed project. On this one, I haven’t decided how I feel yet.

Club 100 for Writers
28/100

500/day
16

Writing Stuff:
Word count: 500 on the SF WIP. Completed the climax and denouement, now in the final closing scene. MS Word’s count claims over 8.6K words, which manuscript count would thereby put at over 10K. Ouch. I suspect there will need to be much cutting.

Club 100 for Writers
27/100

500/day
15

Feeling better today, although still nasally challenged. Went into work clutching my magical bag of pharmaceuticals. All hail the Sudafed gods. Fortunately, it was a fairly quiet day in the office as people are winding down for the holidays. I sat in a snoggy haze, dazedly plucking at my computer and drinking tea, without too much interference.

Received an adorable Harry & David holiday moose jar stuffed with two bags of moose munch nibblings from teflaime yesterday. *waves* Thanks, sweetie! During one of my less phlegmy episodes, Matthew and I wolfed down a bowl of moose munch while watching Christmas in Connecticut with our new moose friend.

Also watched the SciFi channel’s adaptation of Ursula K. LeGuin’s Earthsea novels. Well, they certainly took an interesting approach to the classic trilogy. I guess it made sense to merge all the storylines so as to diminish the elapsed time that happens across the novels. Also to introduce a love interest, mutate the religion of Atuan and all of Earthsea, totally change the personalities of major characters, and . . . no, wait. It didn’t really make sense. Actually, it pretty much sucked. I hear Phobos acquired the screen rights to The Left Hand of Darkness. I hope they can do a better job of adapting it than the SciFi channel did with Earthsea.

Writing Stuff:
Critiqued a story for Critters (yours, Canadiansuzanne) and started my review for Tangent of this week’s Sci-Fiction. My princess fantasy story goes up today at Critters.

Word count: 500 on the SF WIP. Hard to get back into the swing of things after being a couch slug for several days. But this story is getting very close to the “done” state.

Club 100 for Writers
26/100

500/day
14

Still feeling somewhat crappy today, so decided to take another day off. *sneeze* I don’t think the frigid icy snap we’re having, courtesy Canada, is doing me any good. The incredible dryness reminiscent of Midwestern winters is certainly not.

In better news, cpolk did the Santa hat meme with my Hobkin icon. Isn’t it adorable? I have hereby swiped it for the holidays.

Ugh, feeling very behind on Christmas shopping efforts. I suspect this weekend will be jam packed full of shopping adventure. I imagine Hobkin will be verily displeased.

Writing Stuff:
Did a critique for a critter on hiatus (our mutual friend, britzkrieg) which actually made my day. I’m glad to know he’s still writing, and the story was excellent.

Got a note back from Carina. She can’t get me the full critique as she’s going out of town for the weekend, but she said she really liked my story! Okay, I’m sending it off to market now.

Received word from Andrew that my princess fantasy has been bumped up the queue and will go up next week. Good timing that.

Word count: 600 on the SF WIP. Entering the climax. And suddenly I’m in the homestretch. A couple more days and I might actually finish this one.

Club 100 for Writers
25/100 – one quarter of my goal. And now even when I don’t feel like writing, I’m loathe not to make an effort at it because I don’t want to start all over again at “1.” Plus I find that if I force myself to at least try, I can get 100 words no problem, and 500 with just a bit of muse-coaxing. Neato.

500/day
13