Category Archives: LJ

My shiny 2005 skunk calendar informs me that today is “St. Knut’s Day.” A quick Google search informed me that “King Knut . . . declared that Christmas should be celebrated for twenty days, officially ending the season on January 13th . . . After this day, trees are taken down to mark the official close of the season.”

I think that means we’re supposed to take down our Christmas decorations now. That seems unlikely.

Writing Stuff:
My SF story is up at Critters. I meant to give it another once over before it went live, but I’ve been so wrapped up in working on my huli jing story that I forgot. Went in and looked at it, and immediately found a few typos. Dagnabit!

120-days to a rewrite request from the Razor-edged Arcanum anthology. Not as good as an acceptance, but better than a kick in the teeth. The editor was extremely complementary and encouraging. His main concern was that my story was “too tangled” for average readers to grok. This was a more experimental work for me, stylistically and structurally, so I sympathize with his comments. But that meant I had to go in and do some carving. Actually, less carving and more shoring up. Ended up adding around another three-hundred words after several passes, and un-experimentalizing some of the structure. Sent it back to the editor. *crosses fingers*

Words: 300 on the rewrite. 600 on the huli jing story and it’s done! Well, it’s at zero draft. Going to do another pass (or three) on it, and then have Matthew first-reader it.

Club 100 for Writers
40

500/day
8

This morning, driving into work, it was foggy outside. I love the fog. It makes the world soft and mysterious, magical. It’s like there’s a secret just beyond the mist and if I didn’t have to go to work, I could go looking for it and discover something wonderful.

Of course, I had to go to work . . .

Writing Stuff:
198-days to a you-weren’t-a-winner-but-please-play-again from Neo-opsis after a query.

Words: 1000. Chug-a-chug-a. Into the climax with part of the denouement written. The story is clear in my mind. Less than 1K to go. Perhaps I can finish it tomorrow?

Club 100 for Writers
39

500/day
7

Debbie, Hobkin’s godmother, has regaled us with stories of how every time he goes there for skunk camp, her power goes out. At first, Matthew and I attributed this to coincidence. We did, after all, have a hurricane pass through the area during Dragon*Con, and other such weather patterns have likewise been timed to coincide with various skunk camp dates. But now I’m beginning to suspect that Hobkin is a Magical Electric Skunk. The electrical system in our house is . . . whimsical upon occasion, a state of affairs that began only after we acquired a baby skunk. (The fact that we hadn’t lived for very long in the house before that point is, of course, irrelevant.)

The light in the master bathroom switches off at random times–typically when I set Hobkin down so I can use the facilities–and the light in our entertainment center is likewise arbitrary with its illuminative cause-and-effect. Some mornings I come out into the living room and the lights are on even though Matthew swears he turned them off. And other times no matter how you punch the switch (it’s touch activated), the lights won’t go on. Then there’s the fluorescent overhead in the kitchen. When one flips the toggle from the off position to the on, the light usually flickers to life, but not always (and it has nothing to do with the bulb).

Upon further consideration, it all makes sense. The light in the bathroom goes out when I’ve had the audacity to be away from my prescribed, skunk-cuddling spot on the couch. The skunky wrath I have incited can be observed in how he digs at the door outside in protest. I’m sure it has nothing to do with the gimpy, cheap-ass switch, or the fact that Hobkin’s not allowed into our master suite or that usually when I leave him to use the bathroom, he wakes up.

The kitchen light is an obvious target because the kitchen is where we make food, and food is a rather important life-event according to Hobkin’s world view. And the entertainment center is synonymous with freedom and companionship. When it’s on, we’re there, he’s free to roam around, and the world is good. When we turn things in it off, it usually means we’re leaving the house for a while and he has to be locked away in his area. (Naturally, the peculiar lighting behavior can’t possibly have anything to do with the hyper-sensitive switch which can be triggered by the rumbling of passing semis.) As far as skunk camp goes, he’s probably feeling rather mischievous or inclined to show off, being in a new place and all. Ergo, he engages in small pranks.

Magical Electric Skunk. Yup.

Writing Stuff:
Words: 800. Just about at the climax. Stopped mid-paragraph as I was going into the end, blasted between the eyes by the realization that I needed an additional, key scene in order to explain the protag’s central motivation. So I backtracked to the middle and then ground my gears uselessly for a while. In order to jostle some ideas loose, I started doing some research on Buddhism. Voila! Enlightenment struck and the new scene essentially wrote itself.

Maybe a couple more days and I’ll be able to type “the end” on it. Currently it’s at a little over 5.5K. Doesn’t look like keeping it at or under 7.5K is going to be an issue. Whew. It will require a lot of clean-up before it’s ready for Matthew to first-reader, though.

Club 100 for Writers
38

500/day
6

The first 2005 Dragon*Con directors meeting was yesterday. Sounds like there will be many logistical changes to streamline the organization process, which is all good. It also sounds like we will need to clone dire_epiphany. I’m thinking three clones might be enough–nah, better make it four to be safe. Wonder if that expense counts as a “reimbursement” or a “requisition”? Hmm.

One outcome of these changes is that I shall need a burly, load-bearing staffer or two (glances hopefully at arkamrefugee, glenn5, and lord_darkseid) to help me lug the office supplies from the registration area to the DD office, pre-convention (btw, I got some banter from Registration at the meeting, pagmatic. I think you’re definitively going to need to do another Registration cartoon.) At least the hotel will provide us with a wheeled conveyance, so that shouldn’t be too onerous. Also going to split the graveyard shifts between my staff and the Signage staff, which will make things less red-eyed for all concerned.

Reminder to self: Email a note out to solicit early staff commitments and determine whether I have any gaps that need filling.

Got a chance to chat with the director of the YA Literature Track, and I’ll be doing panels again for her. I’ll actually be able to bring an issue of Cricket with a story of mine in it this year to show off! I assume I’ll also be doing Writers Track panels again too. Will send in my guest application nice and early this year. Really.

The convention fed us. Free meal, rah! I snagged bell peppers for Hobkin from the buffet to try to mollify the little beastie, but he was pretty unhappy at being abandoned for so long. There were suggestions that we bring him to the convention, but that immediately evoked chaotic images of fiery destruction and doom. So, no.

Also had a chance to touch base and gab with both fingerman and ghostgrrl whereupon I was reminded that Fantasm is only two months away. Gleep. Having a hard time wrapping my mind around the progression of time.

Writing Stuff:
Words: 500. Minimal progress, but still progress. Connected up some of the free-floating scenes in the huli jing story and did some clean-up. Changed my mind a couple times about minor details. Oddly enough, this far into it, I still don’t have a good feel for how long this is going to end up being. I’m either close to wrapping it up, or I’ve still got a couple thousand words left. My control on this one’s looser than usual. Oh well, everything can be fixed in editing . . . *lather, rinse, repeat*

Club 100 for Writers
37

500/day
5

The spiffy skunk calendar Matthew made for me for Christmas informs me that today is “Old Rock Day.” I’m not quite sure how to properly observe that. Should I anoint an old rock with rare oils and lavish it with attention? Throw it, maybe? Offer it a cookie? How does one venerate aged petrologic entities?

Writing Stuff:
I am officially sedentary (perhaps that’s how one celebrates “Old Rock Day,” by mimicking their behavior?) One of my preferred writing spots has, among other reference books, a dictionary within reach of the computer. I was typing along, and a word popped into my head that I was uncertain about, but wanted to use (this is not an isolated occurrence–my lexical storage and retrieval processes are a total mystery to me). I decide to look up its definition to verify it did mean what I thought it meant. Instead of stretching my arm out and flipping open the Webster’s, I launched a web browser and surfed to Merriam-Webster Online because I was too lazy to reach the dictionary.

Sloth, thy name is Eugie.

In other news, I saw that Tangent is back up. It’s still terribly unwell as the site is full of errors, but at least it’s exhibiting signs of life. Hm, that probably means I should get to writing a review of this week’s Sci-Fiction story.

Words: 1100 The huli jing story continues apace. I got stuck but hadn’t gotten my 500 words for the day yet, so forced myself to keep at it. Decided to stop writing linearly and just skip scenes that weren’t coming. By doing that I managed to crank out nearly 800 more words before running aground again. And I think I have a better idea of where the story’s going. I still need to link the scenes I did write (and I shall probably end up not using all of them), but I managed to force my way through a stuckage. Rah.

Also came up with a good title (as opposed to the working title of “Fox Spirit”) in the wee hours of the morning. It’s been a day for mysterious subconscious brain functions.

Club 100 for Writers
36

500/day
4

I’m sick of being sick, and I’m sick of posting about how sick everyone here is, so instead I’ll say: “Happy Twelfth Night!”

*snog*

Writing Stuff:
Passed the second round of readings at Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine, woohoo! That much closer to a juicy sale. *crosses fingers*

Switched gears on the kitsune story. Instead of Japanese fox spirits, I decided to make them Chinese fox spirits, huli jing. The characters have more of a Chinese flavor than a Japanese one. Plus, I’ve done the Japanese fox thing. So now I’m doing research to cement in my mind the differences. For some reason, I can’t find my notes from “When Shakko Did Not Lie.” No biggie, but irritating. I wonder if that was one of the files that got eaten in the Hard Drive Cataclysm of last year . . .

Words: 500

Club 100 for Writers
35

500/day
3

Everyone is sick. I’m holding steady, and Matthew and Hobkin are starting on the upswing towards recovery. There is much sniffling and coughing in our house. Need. More. Soup.

Writing Stuff:
Saw another review of The 3rd Alternative #40, this one from SFRevu.com:

“‘The Cajun Knot’ by Melanie Fazi is . . . one of the two really excellent stories in this magazine . . .The other excellent story in the issue is ‘Running on Two Legs’ by Eugie Foster . . . a delightful positive tale”
–Sam Tomaino

Rah!

Realized that this Critters batch doesn’t close out this week, but next. Coolness. That gives me a chance to do another pass on the SF story I tossed up the queue, plus gives me an extra week to do the critiques I’ve got on my “to do” list.

Picked up the strands of a kitsune story I started last year. If it goes where I want it to, I think it’ll be a good story to submit to mroctober‘s So Fey anthology. Of course I really should know better by now than to count my stories before I type “the end,” but at least the muse gears are grinding.

Words: 700

Club 100 for Writers
34

500/day
2

I’m feeling better, although still not 100%. But Hobkin is now officially sick. He keeps making these snuffly, snoggy noises with his nose, and he was pretty uncertain about his breakfast this morning. I think he couldn’t smell it and didn’t realize it was food. Once I got him started (I bribed him with a cookie), he fell to with enthusiasm, but until then, he kept giving me these dubious “I know what breakfast smells like, woman, and this ain’t it!” looks.

*snog*

What do small animals do when they have stuffy noses? They can’t take Sudafed or cough drops, and they can’t even blow their noses. Poor Hobkin!

Writing Stuff:
Received notice that a submission I sent them made it past the first round at Andromeda’s Spaceway’s Inflight Magazine. Also that a story I sent to the Razor-edged Arcanum anthology has been short-listed. Crossing fingers that both turn into juicy sales.

Finished the Critters critiques I started yesterday and completed another one on top of that. Still would like to get a couple more written before this batch clears.

Did a once over on the stories that were rejected yesterday and have boomeranged them both back out into the cold, cruel world.

Also managed several passes on the new SF story. End result: a cut of over 800 words. Tossed it up on Critters. Not sure if it’ll make it to this week’s batch or not.

Club 100 for Writers
33

500/day
1

Ugh. I probably shouldn’t have gone in to work today. Whatever plague bug that’s making the rounds down here seems to have latched its claws on me. I’m snoggy, feverish, sore throated, and dizzy. But I went in anyway because I had an afternoon meeting and I’ve been out of the office for the last week and a half. For all I knew, my place of work might have crumbled to rubble over the holidays.

The meeting was uneventful, my company is still chugging along, and I probably should have stayed in bed. I felt like I was sowing black death every time I wheezed out an exhalation.

I’m seriously worried that I may have given this ick bug to Hobkin, as he’s been sleeping a lot more (if that’s possible), and rubbing his nose a lot. And when he sleeps, his nose sometimes makes a sort of wet, snuffly noise. His appetite is fine, though. We’re increasing the amount of bell pepper in his diet to make sure he’s getting enough Vitamin C.

I feel utterly craptacular. *snog*

Writing Stuff:
I’m going to reset my 500 words/day counter so I can keep a tally of days for 2005 that I’ve managed to achieve my goal.

However, I’m still pinging away at my 100 words/day progress.

Did a pass over the flash piece I wrote for yack_yoniga‘s flash contest and posted it. Sorry folks, I want to keep my first publication rights if I don’t win, so I’m requesting that it remain screened. Started on a critique for Critters. Had a hard time focusing through the bleariness which is my brain. Will finish it up and send it out tomorrow. I’ve got several more that I want to do. We’ll see.

Received a 30-day “Both editors really enjoyed reading . . . but” from Aeon with a pretty detailed critique. As rejects go, this one was pretty spiffy.
And a 133-day “no, but try us again” from Paradox.

Did two rewrite passes on the Princess Fantasy, stuck a fork in and called it done. It’s now officially in my “hold for Cicada” queue.

Club 100 for Writers
32/100