What is it about holiday weeks that just draaaag? I can’t believe it’s only Tuesday. The energy level in the office was as perky as a snail on Valium for us unfortunate few who hadn’t taken the week off already. It’ll probably resemble a deceased snail tomorrow. Sigh.
Saw The Matrix 3. Actually, I enjoyed it. It was very shiny, although Continue reading
Skunk snoozing on my lap, home on my day off, and the world is good.
Swung by the post office to mail my acknowledgment of “Razi”‘s acceptance to Cricket‘s editor and also sent them another fairytale. Iron. Hot. Bap.
Only three crits of my current offering on Critters so far. Two positive, one not so much. I was expecting a more lukewarm response to this one. Dangit, I’m just dissatisfied with it is what I am. Well, hopefully the feedback I get will help me fix it more to my liking.
Matthew and I plan to do a little early Christmas shopping and see The Matrix 3 this weekend.
I’m feeling much better today. Although Matthew warned me yesterday not to overdo it as I ran shrieking through the house upon reading the letter from Cricket. Heh.
I just sold my African-flavored folktale “Razi and the Sunbird” to Cricket! This is the other rewrite I was waiting on, and it was definitely worth all the twitches!
Oo, dizzy now from all the exuberance. But happy!
Oh, and I got a reject from Space & Time with a scrawled handwritten line of encouragement on it, but it’s a little overshadowed . . .
Whoooeeee!
That’s four sales to the Carus publishing group and my third sale to Cricket!
So yesterday I was struck down by a throbbing headache, queasy stomach, and chills alternating with hot flashes. Home I came to lie like a lump on the couch and whimper pitifully.
This morning, I feel better, but opted to stay home. I think I have the flu (dammit, I meant to get a flu shot, but forgot). Hoping it won’t turn into a flare-up as I’m taking so many meds to control a flare, I don’t know what they’d give me to stop this one. Stupid physiology.
However, now that I’m less delirious, I can properly examine the mail offerings from yesterday’s post.
Item 1: Form rejection from Talebones. Dammit.
Item 2: Sterling silver Phobos Award! Couldn’t make the awards banquet, so they toasted me in absentia and mailed my award to me. I’ve currently got it hanging up with Hobkin’s ribbons. My first writing award! Isn’t it purty?
Went to see Henry IV part I at the Shakespeare Tavern yesterday. It was amazing. The Falstaff parts overshadowed the political bits, as is to be expected. They have an incredible Falstaff, the same actor who plays the part in Merry Wives of Windsor. I’m pretty sure he’s their “standard” for that role.
Normally, the histories aren’t my favorite of ole Bill’s works, but the Tavern did an incredible job bringing to life the characters, which is really the truly interesting part, seeing the development of Prince Hal.
I’m greatly looking forward to seeing Henry IV part II next month.
Writing stats:
Got a rewrite request from the Critter who’s putting together an online showcase. I did a cursory look over of the piece before I submitted it to him, but after I got his rewrite suggestions (mostly tightening), I cracked it open with new eyes. I haven’t really read the story since I completed it and started sending it out, around a year+ ago. My writing skills have improved a lot since I wrote that story. It definitely needs streamlining and a rigorous spit polish. Rolled up my sleeves when we got back from the play and started digging in. I plan to dedicate a good portion of today to it.
But he sounded pretty interested in taking the piece, pending my rewrite. I’m quite pleased.
Had a fabu evening last night. glenn5 came over bearing Mildred Pierce on DVD and key lime pie! Matthew cooked up some yummy stir fry, and the vidfest commenced. Excellent dinner, excellent dessert, excellent company (we must do it again soon!). I could definitely see Curtiz’s influence, which is a good thing, although it was difficult empathizing with any of the characters as they were, for the most part, uniformly slimy. The dialogue was lustrous in places, though. Curious about the book now. Afterward, the menfolk chatted about the vagaries and idiosyncrasies of Film Noir while I squeezed a very snuggly Hobkin.
Surprising me, Hobkin didn’t stomp once at glenn5 even though he’d never met him before. Our fuzzbrain is getting very laid back. It’s a good thing.
Writing stats:
Finished the rewrite on the SF piece and sent the new version up to Critters to replace the original draft. Should be going up this week.
I read through my story in In the Outposts of Beyond. While I love the anthology, I’m a little disappointed with the editing. When I initially got my acceptance, the editor and I discussed a couple fixes to the text that I’d missed in my submission–just little typos–one that he’d identified and one that I’d caught upon re-reading. It was just a misspelling and a teeny punctuation fix, but they’re still there in the published version. I know I’m just being persnickety, but it bugs me. I was a little trepidatious about not getting galleys to proof, but since we’d discussed fixes, I assumed it would be taken care of. It looks like he took the file exactly as I submitted it and inserted it into the book.
Considering the length of time this project took, I really would have liked to have seen galleys.
Health stats:
I thought I’d gotten a handle on my meds and my emotional equilibrium, but I feel . . . glum this morning. And my insomnia has returned. My eyes burn and I’m exhausted, but I can’t fall back asleep.
Currently reading book 3 of Tanith Lee’s Secret Books of Venus series. Maybe I’ll bury my nose in escapist fantasy for a bit.
Locus reviewed Hitting the Skids in Pixeltown! It’s short as reviews go, but is overall pretty favorable. I was worried they would totally pan it as the reviewer hasn’t been impressed by the stories appearing in Analog written by one of my co-winners, but it seems thumbs-up. A blurb:
“Hitting the Skids in Pixeltown . . . a showcase of new writers, it’s impressive, and I’ll certainly look to see more work from these folks.”
–Rich Horton
Wonder if Pixeltown will make Locus’ “Best SF Anthologies of 2003” list like its predecessor Empire of Dreams and Miracles did for 2002. That would be cause for cake.
Also received my contrib. copy of In the Outposts of Beyond. Yay!
Still stoked about yesterday’s good tidings.
Writing Stats:
The Creative Loafing story is currently winging its way to the editorial offices. I was feeling masochistic, so I went over the story after mailing it off. Nothing like finding errors or edits you’d like to make but can’t anymore. As it turns out, I only found one thing I wanted to tweak, and it was a small, sentence-level decision, so I’m not feeling too badly about it.
Also had to try to find new places to send the two stories that didn’t make it to the Phobos finalists round. The market I was planning on sending the first of them to is closed to submissions until next week. I guess I’ll have to sit it out until they reopen. The other story is fairly new, but I’m unsure of its market niche. I’ll send it to F&SF while I dwell on other options. It’s a long shot, but then isn’t everything in the publishing biz?
Did about 100 words of polishing and fine-tuning on the SF piece. It’s in better shape now, but I’m still dissatisfied with it. It’s due to go up at Critters next week. Hoping other eyes will be able to see how to fix it or at least what’s wrong with it that’s bothering me so much.
And dude_the sent the pictures he took:
Hobkin all curled up, asleep on the couch:
I just heard from Phobos! My story “Tried as an Adult” made it to this year’s finalist round of their fiction contest. I’m totally stoked!
Nail biting to commence. I believe they hope to have final judging completed in time for Christmas. Winning again would be a truly fantastic Christmas present. Judges this year include Orson Scott Card again, David Brin, and Stanley Schmidt.
