Author Archives: Eugie Foster

Back in the office chair and money angst

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dude_the flew back to Illinois yesterday, and I’m now playing catch-up (again), trying to make a dent in the mountain of work that accrued when I took a measly three-day weekend off. Three days. I take off three days and I can barely breathe for all the work that’s piled up. Sheesh. I remember a time when I routinely took three-day weekends with blithe unconcern. I don’t miss the circumstances of that luxury, but I do miss the luxury itself.

Our taxes went out on Monday, right under the wire, and spurred by the state of our finances, I went casting around for other sources of income. I was investigating the possibility of writing grants and found one that catered to women writers and poets to the tune of $50K for two years.

“Huzzah,” sez I, “someone trying to help poor, starving writers! I must apply.” But upon further examination, I discover that the grant application requires a $35 application fee. So yeah, they’re supporting poor, starving writers with other poor, starving writers.

Grumble. If I had a spare $35 to toss around, I wouldn’t $@&#! need a grant.

Oh well. I probably wouldn’t have had a chance anyway, being a genre writer and all. Still, foo.

   


Writing Stuff

In better news, I managed to land a very sweet freelance research/writing gig. It’s a short-term contract job with a VERY tight deadline, but it pays nicely, and, get this–I’m still in shock over it–I’m actually getting to use my Developmental Psychology degree. *gasp* I’m researching source material and information for specific coursework on teaching educators of grades K-3.

How absolutely fabulous is that? I actually cracked open my old Child Development textbooks–including the one I worked on in graduate school!–to get me started. I knew I was keeping those around for a reason . . .

I’m so tickled to be able to use my degree, although also a little aghast at how rusty and out-of-date my knowledge base is. (And also by the fact that my APA Style Manual is so outmoded that it doesn’t even mention how to cite Internet sources! Fortunately, the APA website does give out that info.) At least there’s a certain falling-off-a-bicycle feel to it. Once I started getting in up to my elbows, it all started flooding back. And even more amusing, my adviser in grad. school literally wrote the book on the subject I’m researching, so not only is this Dev. Psych. stuff, but this is totally-up-my-alley Dev. Psych. stuff.

But as I said, the deadline’s pretty stringent, which means I’ve shoved several other projects down my Things to Do list that I was working on. I’m hoping to get some of the smaller stuff done in between research jags, ’cause as I well remember from college, if I don’t give my brain a rest when I’m going over the theoretical stuff, I hit a wall where my gray matter becomes an impenetrable chunk of overwhelmed, making it and me quite useless for anything.

I’m using my psychology degree! Squee!

Received:
– Note from Jason Sizemore asking for my Featured Writer reprint story for Apex Online. Y’know what I really like? When editors ask me to send them a story. Yay!

Frolicon

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Frolicon. Whee! *flop*

In recovery mode now. Think it’s going to be a slow, easy couple of days.

My first panel was the Writers for Relief one with jackzodiac and tstauffer. Many copies sold and good-natured jibbing and accolades at Davey for his incredible job at putting the whole project together.

Then I found out (!) that I had a reading that evening in the con suite. As anyone who reads my blog on any sort of a regular basis knows, public speaking freaks the ever-living bejeebers out of me. The idea of doing a reading, cold, was enough to turn me into a whimpering, twitching mess.

I was debating between having fosteronfilm read something for me, and simply hiding out until my time slot was over, when Matthew came up with the inspired idea of playing the Escape Pod podcast of “My Friend is a Lesbian Zombie”–it was even an appropriately-themed story for the convention. Problem: we didn’t have a sound system or a CD of the podcast. Fortunately, bamapair had swung by for my panel and very generously offered the use of their laptop to download it; the hotel had free WiFi even. And Joe had brought his kicking boom box for the con suite. Serendipity.

“Lesbian Zombie” went over well, with giggles and snarfs in the proper places, so I then put on “The Life and Times of Penguin” to more giggles. So much better than if I’d tried to muddle through a reading. Thank you Escape Pod!
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dude_the is here. Yay!

Beastie updates:

Hobkin: Sicked up on Thursday, but he didn’t yesterday. We’re trying to feed him smaller, more frequent meal to see if that helps. ‘Course that means he’s getting fed something like five or six times a day. Don’t want him to get used to that. Plus we can’t keep that up over the weekend ’cause of Frolicon. Not sure if we’re going into town tonight for the convention or waiting until tomorrow to get our registration et al. taken care of.

Kitty: No cat sightings, but she’s been chowing down on the food I’ve been setting out. I’ve refilled the bowl three times in the last two days.

   


Writing Stuff

Received:
– Contract from Aberrant Dreams for “Nobodies and Somebodies.” My editor liked my rewrite. Huzzah!

New Words:
– 1K on the story for mroctober. Chug chug chugging along . . .

Club 100 For Writers
      3

500/day
      21

Frolicon and Taxes

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fosteronfilm and I are striving to get our taxes done before Frolicon, but the IRS doesn’t exactly go out of its way to provide clear and easy-to-understand documentation. Blah.

Herein my Frolicon schedule:

Friday
11-12:30 Lombard 1 – Writer’s for Relief (with jackzodiac and tstauffer) – Discover what it took to bring about Writers for Relief from the conceptual phase through the printing of the anthology.

Saturday
3:30-5 Lombard 1 – Fairytales and Folklore in Modern Dark/Horror Fiction (with jackzodiac and tstauffer) – Explore the origins of many of the images found in today’s genre fiction. How do today’s dark/horror fiction writers turn age old images upside down and make them modern and edgy?

5-6:30 Lombard 1 – Twisted Relationships in Fiction (with jackzodiac and tstauffer) – What happens when the obvious love relationship is turned on its head? How do you construct twisted but believable relationships in short fiction that won’t leave your reader cold, but panting for more? Why are we drawn to the twisted and unexpected?

Whoa. Saturday’s going to be a bit grueling. Three hours straight, back-to-back. Good thing I’ll be up there with Davey and Toni. I can gab forever with those fab folks.

And I haven’t prepared anything either. I probably ought to jot down some notes or something beforehand.

I’ve become much more cavalier about these panels than I used to be . . .

   


Writing Stuff

New Words:
– 600 on the collaboration I’m doing with mtrimm1, and I volley the ball back over the net. Me likie having someone else to bounce ideas off of, not to mention being able to hand off a story when I hit that “okay, that part’s done . . . now what?” wall.
– 1K on the story for mroctober. It’s taking on a decidedly Lovecraftian feel.

Club 100 For Writers
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500/day
      20

Pending Human/Present Cat Caller

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dude_the is flying in for Frolicon tomorrow evening. Hurray! House cleaning must commenceth . . .

For the last few days we’ve had a four-legged caller, a petite, gray and white kitty, very pretty and very fluffy-looking. She’s been hanging out on our porch, lounging by our front step and bird watching among our holly trees. I managed to snap a picture of her through the window:

She’s a dainty thing. In the picture she looks rounder than she actually is. I don’t think she’s thin, just sleek, although I can’t be sure through her fur. I’m not seeing ribs, though, which is good, and her coat looks pretty healthy.

Behavior-wise, she’s not terribly skittish; when she saw me peering at her through the window, she approached–although, of course, there was still a wall between us. But when I opened the door, she bolted. I’m betting she’s someone’s outdoor cat and not a feral, but just in case, I’ve been putting food out for her. (We’ve got a bag of leftover dry ferret food that we never got around to giving away to a shelter.) She ate the first bowl of kibble I put out, but didn’t snarf down the second, so I don’t think she’s starving or anything like that. Although I do worry that she’ll get hit by a car as we’ve got a road by our house which gets fairly heavy traffic during the rush hours.

I’d like to be able to figure out whether she’s someone’s pet or if she’s feral, or perhaps if she’s someone’s ex-pet looking for a new home, but I’m not sure how to proceed. Obviously, we can’t adopt her if she’s in need of a home–between Hobkin and my cat allergies, that simply isn’t a tenable option–but we could get her to a vet, make sure she’s spayed/neutered, and make sure she’s properly looked after for the duration while we try to find a good home for her. I figured I’d keep putting food out for her and trying to get her to come to me so I can look her over better–see if she’s thin, has all her claws, determine whether “she” is actually a “he,” that sort of thing.

She’s a sweet-looking thing. I hope she doesn’t kill the birds who flit around our holly trees.

   


Writing Stuff

It’s my turn on a collab. story I’m doing with mtrimm1. I’ve never done a collaboration before. It’s exciting . . . and a little intimidating.

Received:
– Galley proofs for my two flash pieces, “The Wiggly People” and “Sins of the Mother,” for the Dark Cloud Press Thou Shalt Not anthology. The editor said he plans to send the finished product to the printers by early May. Rah!

New Words:
– 500 on a story for mroctober. This one’s going to be short, a one-scener. (*smacks muse* “You hear me? I said short!”)

Club 100 For Writers
      1 <--
500/day
      19

My subwoofer is haunted

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I’ve mentioned before that my house seems to be mildly haunted, especially the electrical system. Actually, it’s a tossup between ghostly activity or fey mischief, but whatever the fantastical root cause, another weirdness happened yesterday. While I was working upstairs in the library, jamming to the Opera Babes, my subwoofer suddenly blared out male voices speaking incomprehensible gibberish. Definitely not Opera Babes. Since I was doing something with IE at the time, I thought I’d accidentally stumbled upon a website with annoying sound effects* and slapped the mute button on my laptop. No more Opera Babes, but the gabblespeak kept coming out. It faded away in a couple seconds as I stared with unnerved incomprehension at my speaker.

Huh.

Today I’m playing some Loreena McKennitt and Vienna Teng, a pianist/vocalist yukinooruoni recently introduced to me, to see if that mollifies or incites the fey/phantoms to repeat their auditory outburst. So far, only lilting female voices.

In other unworldly amusement news, I discovered a little bit of whimsy that has restored a smidgen of my faith in society. There’s got to be greatness in a culture that comes up with The Necronomicon as a plush book for pre-schoolers. Yep, you too can give a lucky toddler of your acquaintance a plushy book that summons Elder Gods. I totally want one.

*[rant] I hate websites that play unbidden music or have sound effects, especially ones that don’t provide me the option of turning them off. If I’ve got my speakers on, it’s because I want to hear what I’m playing, not have some noise pollution foisted on me. [/rant]

   


Writing Stuff

Inspired by wicked_wish‘s LJ post of her new work area in their Seattle digs, I decided to likewise post images of my writing environment. My cluttered desk:


The shelf behind my laptop is where I store all my writing paperwork–a folder for each story to hold contracts, rejections, notes, and other editorial/agent correspondences, receipts, etc. Above it are the two shelves where I keep my contrib. copies (along with various family publications–the couple mystery novels my dad-in-law wrote, the library cataloging reference books my mom wrote, etc.) and, of course, the boring-but-obligatory office supplies.

Off to the left, in the sibling bookcase, you can see in a frame my very first acceptance letter, the one from Cicada for “The Adventures of Manny the Mailmobile.” And dangling from the frame, my Phobos Award.

The pyramid painting above the printer is nice, but it’s more to fosteronfilm‘s taste. I’d like to replace it with something more Eugie-ish eventually, maybe an enlargement of one of my story illustrations.

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Hobkin’s Spring Tummy

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Hobkin’s not feeling well, which might explain his lackluster behavior on Friday. Not a very nice birthday present for the poor lil guy. His tummy’s upset; he’s been sicking up his dinners, and the food that makes it through his system goes through . . . too fast. Again, I’m very, very thankful he’s so good about being sick exclusively in his area.

This has become a seasonal thing for him. When Spring comes around, his GI tract turns all delicate and fussy. It really worries me. fosteronfilm thinks it’s just something that happens, the way babies just get sick all the time. But I’m inclined to fret and stew.

Hobkin remains active and alert, with a good appetite, and using the “scruff test”* he’s not dehydrated, so there’s not much reason for him to see the vet again. We’ve brought him in for this before, and they haven’t been able to figure out what’s causing it. They give us some anti-nausea meds and tell us to treat the symptoms, a regimen we’ve got down. His yearly blood work has always come back fine–into the “excellent” spectrum, typically–so it’s not something that seems to be impacting his overall health, nutrition absorption, and other long-term factors. But I just wish I knew what was causing this. I keep wondering if he’s got some sort of food allergy, but it manifests mostly during specific times of the year, and we haven’t changed anything in his diet recently.

Wah!

*We learned with the ferrets a down-and-dirty way to check whether a critter is dehydrated: Pinch the fur at the scruff of their neck and release it, and if the fur doesn’t de-scruff immediately, they’re dehydrated.

   


Writing Stuff

Did some more fiddling with my website over the weekend: added a couple new markets to my Children’s Market Listing, adjusted some font settings on my CSS page, tweaked some content, and made some layout adjustments. Also realized that I can now embed my LJ using JavaScript instead of the in-line frames I’ve been reduced to before.

A website is never “done,” is it? I’ve got to just put the thing aside and get back to writing. It’s sucking up way too much of my time, and I’ve got a backlog of stories that I ought to be working on.

Beginning to eye my submission spreadsheet. I’ve got several stories out that have responses due any day now on. I try not to dwell on response times, since down that road lies madness. (Maaaadness!) But, well, insanity happens. Also, there’s a couple markets that I submitted multiple stories to (in one case at their request, in the other I just had two stories that were appropriate pop into availability during their reading period) where they ended up buying one but didn’t mention the other(s). Should I treat that as an oblique rejection, I wonder? I’ve queried one place, no word back yet. Debating when/if I should query the other.

I frequently multi-sub to a couple places–the Cricket folks most notably–but those are publications I’ve sold to before and I know the routine. But these markets are break-in sales for me, and in one case the publication is new. Snoglewart. I should quit mulling and just query already. There’s probably a “and this, boys and girls, is why you shouldn’t multi-sub” moral in there, but I’m a fan of multi-subs so my internal narrator can get stuffed.

Hobkin’s 4th B-day: tomorrow

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Wingstubs hurting me a lot these last couple days. Not helping my stymied writing mindset. But, since it hurts to make words, I give you pictures!

It’s Hobkin’s birthday tomorrow. The lil guy will be four years old.


Hmm. He looks a bit depressed. Is four a big milestone year among skunks, I wonder?


I don’t think he wants a lot of fanfare for this birthday. I bet he’ll feel differently when it’s cake time.

   


Writing Stuff

Published:
I saw on the Galaktika website that #193 is out with my story “All in My Mind” in it, in Hungarian. Looking forward to getting my contrib. copies . . . and check. The cover’s very SFnal shiny:

Received:
– An editing tweak request for my Aegri Somnia story, “Nothing of Me.” Pondering.
– Note from the Modern Magic editor asking me to confirm my mailing address for my contrib. copy. Must be getting close now . . .

Pictures and Power

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Watched the new episode of House last night. Does Michelle Trachtenberg only play imperiled-and-annoying teeny-boppers??

In a fit of cat waxing, I scanned in and printed out some of my favorite illustrations from various stories I’ve had published. I’m adding them to the existing decor on the walls of my library office. Pretty and inspirational to combat those times when I’m hammered by writerly angst and frustration.

Like now.

In the process, I Googled the artists, and I was delighted to stumble across the full painting of “Returning My Sister’s Face” by Allen Douglas. The one in Realms of Fantasy had text across it, and I think they cropped it slightly when they published it.

Now I’m wondering what contracts for magazine illustrations and other commissioned artwork are like and how they compare to the sorts of contracts I see as a writer. Also wondering whether the original is for sale. Not that I could afford to buy it even if it was . . .

And I need more frames.

   


Writing Stuff

Still haven’t heard back from Tangent‘s webmaster regarding our forum spamming problem, so armed with a greater understanding of cPanel features after my virtual move, I went into Tangent‘s back end and banned the IP addresses of some of the most egregious offenders all by myself.

I have the power! . . . I think.

Editing:
– Finished up the edits on “Nothing of Me” and sent them back for approval.

Virtual relocation: packing, moving truck, and unpacking–cardboard boxes everywhere

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Decided to move eugiefoster.com to a new host on Sunday for a bunch of reasons, including so I could have greater server-side control and so I wouldn’t have to use a domain mask anymore; each page now has its own URL.

For folks using my Children’s Markets Listing, you might want to update your bookmarks to: www.eugiefoster.com/kidmarkets.htm. I’ve got a redirect from the previous address, but y’know, there it is.

There’s a lot of coordination involved with shunting a virtual thing from one cyberlocation to another. It reminded me a lot of a physical move–a process I absolutely abhor–with virtual parallels to packing, carting everything over to the new place, and then unpacking and deciding where everything should go. I didn’t have to fret over the burly guys in the moving trucks breaking or losing my stuff, but I did have a couple virtual “Agh! Where did I pack the can opener?” moments.

Packing–that is, informing my domain registrar of the new server locale, and sorting through/neatening up my files–went smoothly, but there was a slight holdup with the carting stuff over part. Actually, that went about as smoothly as a crocodile with a rash, resulting in mad scrambling and hair pulling. If anyone sent an email to me at my eugiefoster.com address on Sunday evening and I haven’t responded, you might want to resend it. There was a half hour to forty-five minute in there during which I fear some incoming emails may have been flung into a deep, dark cyber-oubliette.

After everything got properly relocated, as I was “unpacking,” I decided to do some structural tweaks. These “tweaks” sucked up all my attention yesterday and this morning, and they still aren’t done. However, I’ve got a backlog of writing/editing work that’s clamoring for my attention, and I’m having to back-burner it.

If you swing by my website, I hope you’ll excuse the mess. (Also, if folks not using IE as their web browser could let me know if there’s anything which looks really bizarre, that would be greatly appreciated.)

   


Writing Stuff

Received:
– Edits from Jason Sizemore on my Aegri Somnia story, “Nothing of Me.”
– Contract from Gisele LeBlanc for “A Patch of Jewels in the Sky.” It’s slated for publication in Dragonfly Spirit in June.
– 6-day rejection from new UK ‘zine, Forgotten Worlds, with invite to submit again. Strange wording/spelling snafu on the rejection made me do a double-take: “Thank you for your resent submission to Forgotten Worlds. We regret that it has been unsuccessful.” The misspelling of “recent” caused me to pause for a moment, wondering if they’d asked me to “resend” my story–and I had totally forgotten any such happenings–and through some electronic boo-boo, they hadn’t received it. But then I figured my memory’s not that fractured yet, and besides, how would they know it hadn’t been successful if they hadn’t received it? So yeah, it’s a rejection. Check.