Author Archives: Eugie Foster

Everyone’s on the Mend/Hectic Writing Schedule

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We all seem to be getting over the flu bug. Thankfully, as stomach flus go, this one seems to have been rather mild.

Hobkin has kept down all the food he’s eaten in the last twenty-four hours, and is generally exhibiting signs of being over the worst of his GI issues.

Thank goodness.

Writing stuff:

Received a BFoD from RoF, right on schedule, and a note from WotF that my story, while not a winner, was a quarter-finalist. Again. Always a bridesmaid, dammit.

My review of “Safe Haven” by Karen D. Fishler in Infinite Matrix is up at Tangent.

Another 3000 words on the novella. It’s now officially novelette length, and out of the short story pit of word countage. Flowing along great with the “write what you can, skip what you need to” approach. Fingers crossed and wood knocking that this continues.

Also received the next issue of Oceans of the Mind to review. It’s HUGE. My editor actually asked whether I wanted to skip this one and have him pass it to another reviewer, as I had already sent him a review this week. I actually considered passing as I don’t want anything to skew my writing flow. But then I figured, “nah, I can read and review between creative bursts.” Besides, I didn’t have anything else major planned this weekend.

Did I mention this issue is HUGE? I think it’s the longest issue they’ve ever published.

Also, I need to critique a bunch of stories on Critters. There are several regulars up this week who I would feel bad about if I missed.

I still haven’t finished sending thank you notes out for the last story that went through the queue, and I’m beginning to get a steady stream of crits coming in for my current offering.

And I need to work on that rewrite and send it to market already if it’s going to market, as well as have Matthew first reader my fantasy/VR fusion piece.

I think I bit off more than I can fit into my mouth.

Minty bread

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Hobkin sicked up his dinner last night. I think we were pushing too much food too quickly on his recuperating tummy.

The evening was a repeat of last night’s. Fed Hobkin small bits of veggies and bread by hand at regular intervals. Sometimes it’d stay down, sometimes it wouldn’t. But he’s not dehydrated and he is getting some nutrients into him. He’s quite active, not lethargic at all, running about, attacking socks, stomping at everything, so we’re continuing with our current course of care.

Managed to get him to take Pepto Bismol by soaking a dose of it into a piece of bread. He appears to like minty bread well enough. Maybe it’s just the liquidness of it he doesn’t like? Anyway, that seems to have helped.

Me, I have a headache and my insides are definitely unhappy. It’s stomach flus all around. Blah.

Despite the questionable health status of everyone, Matthew still tried to put together a fun St. Paddy’s Day. He made vegetarian Irish Stew. Shooed me out of the kitchen so I couldn’t see what he put into it, but it was very yummy. Even on my sensitive digestive tract.

One good result from all these sedentary evenings is that I’ve been getting a lot of writing done.

Writing stuff:

3000 more words on the novella. Plowing ahead. The real test will come at the 8K word mark. Something usually starts going wonky with my flow when I breach the “this ain’t a short story no longer” marker.

Also scribbled up a synopsis so I know where I’m going with it, and did quite a bit of research to shore up my facts and details.

Been actively putting into practice the “if I get stuck, skip the scene and go on to the next” stratagem. It’s working great so far.

Wish I felt a little less lightheaded.

On the Nature of Skunk Tummies

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Hobkin seems to be on the mend. I hand fed him small pieces of high-liquid veggies, watermelon, and bits of bread at regular intervals last night. Even managed to coax him to lap up a bit of Pepto Bismol. He sicked up some of his food, and a lot of it passed through his system far too quickly for any sort of decent nutrient absorption. But I think enough got into him to do some good. And he maintained an appetite.

He was very clingy, and very prone to startling. Well, he is a small animal with a wee brain, after all. His tummy is upset and he doesn’t understand what’s happening, so he’s scared and easily frightened. That translated to him wanting to curl up all night with me, and keeping me pinned on the couch. My night was pretty sedentary, but I got a lot of writing done.

I keep checking his scruff to see if he’s dehydrated, and although his fur is a little dry, he seems okay on the hydration front, which is my biggest concern. I’ve had to force fluids orally and administer them subcutaneously to small animals before. They don’t like it; I don’t like it; there’s much unhappiness all around. I’d like not to have to go through that again.

This morning, Hobkin ate a meal of veggies and watermelon without me having to hand feed him. And had his normal (if slightly smaller) lunch of cottage cheese and more veggies. So we’re holding off on making a decision whether to take him to the vet’s for another day to see if he’ll be able to get over this bout of upset tummy without medical intervention.

I wish the little fuzzwit could tell us how he’s feeling.

In related news, Matthew had a few disturbed stomach pangs last night, and today I felt a bit unsettled myself in the GI department. Not sure if it’s us being sympathetic to Hobkin, or we’re all three of us sharing a bug. I know ferrets and humans are susceptible to the same colds and flus, but haven’t been able to ascertain whether that’s true for humans and skunks. If we humans worsen, I suspect I will have my answer.

Writing stuff:

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Sick Skunk

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Hobkin appears to have some sort of tummy upset. He ate a tiny bit of broccoli at breakfast, but turned up his nose at more broccoli, a tomato slice, a chunk of sweet potato, and celery. And he didn’t eat any veggies at lunch, although he did tuck away most of his cottage cheese. So far he hasn’t sicked anything up, but he’s not doing so well at the back end.

Matthew tried to feed him some Pepto Bismol, but he would have nothing to do with it, and spent the day napping (or sulking) under his hutch.

Went shopping after work to pick up some cucumber, bell pepper, and bread. Wanted to make sure we have plenty of veggies high in liquid to offer him, and something mild to tempt his appetite with. I’m worried about him becoming dehydrated. If he doesn’t start eating better by tomorrow, he gets to go see the nice vet people. Poor little guy.

Writing stuff:

Another 1000 words on the fantasy/VR fusion thingy, and I’m at zero draft. I think due to my non-chronological writing, there’s some rough transitions in the middle. Want to go over those before handing it to Matthew to first reader. Managed to meld Greek, Chinese, and Celtic mythos into a single story. I hope that’s a good thing.

Heard from the editor of the ELP Library. My excerpt “Visiting Day” is due up on June 20th. Also saw that Infinite Matrix had published a new story, “Safe Harbor” by Karen D. Fishler, so I reviewed it for Tangent. Going to have to ask my editor when in April I take over the SciFiction.com reviews as they publish weekly.

Coffee, Tea, Writing

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Went out to the Perimeter Mall yesterday to buy tea and coffee at Teavana and Harry & David’s, respectively. Felt quite decadent about spending large sums of money on tea and coffee. But hey, they’re major parts of our at-home recreation. Decided to try a new flavor of tea: Genmaicha. It’s a toasted brown rice/green tea blend with bits of popcorn in it. As it turns out, I’m not really a big fan. I think they were going for a “toasted” flavor. But “toasted tea” translates to “burnt” to my taste buds. But Matthew thinks it’ll be good tea to have with food rather than just to sip.

This week is our celebration of Ostara. Going to reprise last year’s parsnip and apple soup, as well as make some beer bread. Yummy. And again, my diet plans are thwarted. I really need to exercise.

And after a couple weeks of washings, the red in my hair appears to be more prominent. I think I like it now. I still intend to stick with black in the future, but for now it’s kind of neat. As long as it doesn’t start turning orange.

Writing Stats:

2800 words on the fantasy/VR fusion piece. I got hung up on a scene, and realized I wasn’t being productive, so I skipped it and went to the next scene. I’ve only done that sort of writing a handful of times; usually I write in a very chronological fashion. But it got me out of my stew. Need to go back and write the middle section I skipped, but somehow I don’t feel blocked knowing the story will progress from point A to point C since, well there point C is. Of course if point B throws me a total curve and makes point C wrong, I shall be miffed . . .

Did a few critiques on Critters (including yours, britzkrieg). I saw that I wasn’t on the MPC list on this week’s notes. Fired off a note to Andrew. Not sure what’s up with that as I sent in eleven crits by Monday. Humph.

Heard back from the Blasphemy anthology publishers. They don’t think it’ll be out in time for Fantasm, but they’re going to try to send me some freebie promo stuff to hand out at the convention.

Also sent a note to the editor/publisher of Tales of the Paranormal anthology declining the honor of being the promo piece on her website for it. I did say she could excerpt some of “Inspirations End,” but that I didn’t want the story in its entirety up. I hope she’s not angry with me, but I’m actively trying to market reprint rights, and I’m sure having it so freely available would hurt my chances of a sale.

And, good news! The editor of the MicroSHOCKS anthology posted on the Rumor Mill that MicroSHOCKS may have found a home at Scrybe Press. (This is the anthology that had its publisher fold after accepting my flash story “Reflections in the Mirror”.) Hurray!

Midsummer Night’s Dream

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Went to the Shakespeare Tavern last night to see A Midsummer Night’s Dream. They did an excellent job. I was laughing so hard I was holding my sides to keep them from popping. They came in a close second for best production of Midsummer’s Night I’ve ever seen. The best one is still the one the Illinois Shakespeare Festival did many years ago, but these guys came closer than anyone else has since then.

I think Midsummer is one of my favorite plays to watch. There aren’t really all that many fantabulously memorable lines, but it’s just a good comedy. Can’t figure out why Hollywood hasn’t managed to produce a single decent version of it, though. But then, Hollywood hasn’t had a very impressive track record when it comes to Shakespeare.

Stepped on the scale this morning. Argh. Not only have I not lost weight, I’ve actually gained a couple pounds. Fume. Most focus on diet, dammit.

Writing stats:

Maybe 200 words on the new fantasy/VR fusion thingy. Suckitude.

Passed the first round of reading at Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine on a novelette. On to the second round.

Skunk-in-armpit, Big Fat Greek Wedding, Writing stats

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Hobkin was quite snugglesome last night. Actually, he was so snugglesome this morning he woke me up before my alarm. He kept burrowing into my armpit. As most people reading this (excluding puskunk and alijt) probably don’t have a frame of reference for sleeping with an attention-mongering skunk, lemme say it’s a bit like having a stuffed animal insistently trying to imbed itself into your body. There are many much worse things than having a living plush creature trying to fuse into one’s armpit, but it still proves a little difficult to sleep through. I think he was either cold or wanted to be hugged. As soon as I gathered him up in my arms (and out of my armpit) and cuddled him, he quit trying to burrow into me. But then, of course, I was wide-awake and totally pinned. Typical.

Saw My Big Fat Greek Wedding for the first time last night. I quite enjoyed it. I see why it did so well. It’s charming and funny, despite being predictable.

Writing stats:

The editor/publisher of the Tales of the Paranormal anthology sent me an email requesting to use my story “Inspirations End” on her website to promote the anthology. She said it was one of her favorites, which I’m well pleased by, but I’m not sure if I’m fond of the idea of having it online as I’m trying to sell reprint rights to it, and having it so readily available might make that difficult. Hmm.

And what the hell is the deal with the Blasphemy anthology? I was counting on bringing it and Tales of the Paranormal to Fantasm but I have still yet to hear of a publication date or see edits to approve. Grumble. Launching another query . . .

Also scribbled out a synopsis/outline and cranked out 800 words on the new high fantasy/virtual reality fusion piece.