I’ve been posting an unusually large (for me) number of memes recently–this is the third (fourth if you count the Shakespeare and Firefly ones as separate) in the last week. This isn’t a trend, really! I just thought the recent fads making the rounds were more interesting than the typical quizzes and memes that usually circulate.
So:
Five idiosyncratic things about me:
1. I like salty snacks better than chocolate. If given the choice of Cheetos and Doritos versus fudge and candy bars, I’ll choose the salty grease nearly every time. I like chocolate well enough, but given my druthers, I’d rather have chips.
2. The scar on my right cheek is from when I was in daycare and I got pushed on the playground. I fell on the corner of a sandbox and cut my face. It required stitches and I still remember how confused and frightened I was in the emergency room. I’ve had the scar most of my life so I don’t normally think of it, but when I’m being photographed I reflexively present my left side or stand face-on to the camera.
3. I can’t stand leaving a chore half-done. Once I start something, I work obsessively to finish it. Contrarily, I can procrastinate until the skunks come home, but once I finally do buckle down and begin something, I need to see it through. I get cranky and unreasonable if someone or something interrupts me mid-task–which has resulted in, on several occasions, fosteronfilm being unfairly snipped at. Alas, this compulsion hasn’t carried over to my writing.
4. Socially, I’m a mess of contradictions. It’s like there’s an introvert and an extrovert perpetually at war in my psyche. I like being the center of attention, while at the same time I’m terribly shy. I don’t like crowds, but I love going to big events like Dragon*Con. And although I’m terrified of speaking in public, when I’m actually doing it, I find that I enjoy it.
5. I prefer rainy days and clouds over sunshine and blue skies. Bright days feel oppressive and garish, while stormy days soothe me and give me peace. But I hate snow with the hatey-hate of a thousand burning stars.
I’m not going to tag anyone, which is the normal way this meme is run, so just do it if it strikes your fancy, I sez.
Writing Stuff
Received payment from Nowa Fantastyka for “All in My Mind” the Polish reprint they published in their July 2005 issue. They hacked off 20% for “taxes.” Fooie. And I’ll have to pay U.S. taxes on it again come tax time. This should come as no surprise to anyone, but I feel the need to rail at the universe. It is impossible to make a decent living as a short fiction writer! I will have made the most from my fiction sales, ever, this year, and the amount is astonishingly piddly–and this includes payment from quite a few “pro”-paying sales. How disheartening.
Now would be a good time to get a call from my agent telling me he sold my novel . . .
My Korean folktale is up at Critters. So far, getting some very positive feedback, including a not-for-credit one-liner that said simply: “You’re an excellent writer and I enjoyed the story.” Now that’s a good way to wake up in the morning.
Although, err, I panicked and sent off a note to the Critters Help Support folks when I saw I’d received seven crits and none of them had appeared in my inbasket. I thought maybe their new server had hiccuped or I’d submitted with the wrong email address–something I’ve never done before, but hey, always a first time. ‘Course, half an hour later, the crits were delivered safe and sound, and I immediately sent off a contrite “sorry, please disregard my previous hysterical email” note to the good tech folks. Oops.
Editing passes mostly.
It is impossible to make a decent living as a short fiction writer!
And that is why Kelly Link, arguably the most successful short story writer (in genre and possibly as well as out of genre) of the current era, also relies on her work as a slush reader for SciFi.com and as co-editor of Year’s Best.
I’d love to get a paying editing gig! Unfortunately no one’s knocking down my door offering them to me. Sigh.
Perhaps one day… just stay with Tangent and see what happens.
That’s the current plan. Although I may starve before I land a paying editing job at this rate . . .
I like a mixture of sweet and salty, like chocolate covered pretzels.
And to add another layer onto it, when I was in high school we dipped chocolate covered pretzels in port wine cheese spread. It was really, really good.
Oh, and my husband introduced me to dipping Doritos in sour cream. (Though sour cream isn’t really sweet.)
Ooo. I love chocolate-covered pretzels. Now I’m curious what they’d be like with an added layer of cheese . . .
taxes on the polish publication
it is complicated to describe, and i would need to do some research, but i believe that you can deduct the taxes you paid in poland as ‘foreign taxes paid’ which should mean you will pay a proportionately lower amount in u.s. taxes.
also, please tell me you are keeping track of every little dime that you spend on writing stuffies. your writing should definitely qualify as a business which means that you can even run a paper loss… not that i think you will, but it may help out come tax time.
Re: taxes on the polish publication
“also, please tell me you are keeping track of every little dime that you spend on writing stuffies.“
Oh, hell yeah! I keep extremely detailed financial records and have filed a Schedule C every year for my writing since I started making sales in 2001.
Re: taxes on the polish publication
good eugie! thanks, that was an automatic twitch from my tax prep reflexes.
Re: taxes on the polish publication
It’s a good reflex. I hear of other writers who don’t keep proper financial records and it makes me cringe. That’s a good way of getting the IRS irate with a person, something I hope never to have happen to me!
I’m with you about the salty versus sweet. I love pizza and burritos and potato chips. *drools* (Not saying I don’t love chocolate, though. :D)
Here’s hoping your novel sells quickly and for a lot of money! *raises glass*
OH, yeah! salty over sweet any day, unless the sweet happens to be plain vanilla ice cream. Then it’s a hard choice. 😀
Dammit. Now I’m craving Doritos and ice cream.
I also prefer rainy/cloudy days to sunshiny ones. Makes being with, a lover of the sun and warmth an interesting ride.
I can imagine! Both and I are fans of the overcast, which makes things much easier.
Contradictions not so contradictory
>>
This is actually not that big a contradiction – I would say you love being the centre of attention WHEN YOU ARE IN A GROUP OF PEOPLE WITH SIMILAR INTERESTS TO YOU. Given that you’ve never mentioned football or other major sport in your blog, I’d say you aren’t a sports fan. If you were to find yourself at a big dinner full of jocks, you’d probably hate it and want to slink into a corner somewhere. Or, if you were at a gathering and you didn’t know many of the people, you’d be uncomfortable until you found someone on your wavelength.
I know of what I speak. I am an introvert so introverted I fall off the scale, and I am exactly the same as you. It’s actually classic introvert behaviour, believe it or not.
Oh yeah, salty over sweet every time for me, too. Mud cake is WAY over-rated, I feel.
Expect my crit sometime over the weekend. I enjoyed the story heaps.
Dreamwind (who will be getting a blog as soon as the $#%&!!!!! essay on slave rebellions is finished).
Re: Contradictions not so contradictory
Introverts of the world unite! And then, err, look terribly uncomfortable while we shuffle our feet and avoid eye contact with each other. Hee.
Glad you liked “Shim Chung”! I’m looking forward to reading your crit.
You knoooow you want a LiveJournal. Shiny blog. Oooo.
> I can procrastinate until the skunks come home . . ..
Sounds like you just need another skunk, then they (plural) will always be home. Sorry, couldn’t help myself.
> Now would be a good time to get a call from my agent telling me he sold my novel . . .
It’s only a matter of time. Be patient!
Re: Another skunk.
Nooooo! Hobkin by himself is a huge handful. I can’t imagine how insane it would be with two!