Category Archives: LJ

My mother and her new husband are due to fly in this evening. But I’m not dwelling on that. Ohhhmmmm. Ohhhhmm.

I was having problems breathing again last night, so I thought “screw this” and took a clonazepam, something I haven’t done in quite some time. Knocked me right out and I slept the sleep of the totally drugged. I feel much better now. Nothing like a benzodizepine to put stress in its place. Just have to remember not to make a habit of that. And as tempting as it sounds, I am going to refrain from popping one right before my mother’s due in.

We did a lot of last-minute cleaning yesterday, including me finally putting the last bits of Dragon*Con attire away. Yeah, yeah, I suck at housework. We were going to give Hobkin a bath, but the opportunity never presented itself. We might still try to give him one later today, but if it doesn’t happen, it doesn’t happen. He smells like celery and bell peppers. And his coat’s all soft and fluffy. He doesn’t really look like he needs a bath. Right now he’s slumped on my lap, being a total fuzzalump, which has soothing properties all by itself.

10 crits so far on Critters on my dark fantasy offering. And they’ve all been pretty positive. Huh. Well, good.

Also got a glowing reject from Black Gate. The editor said the story was terrific and exciting, but lagged in the middle. And he didn’t get the final line. Sigh. I keep getting really nice rejects from these guys, but I don’t think I’m getting any closer to selling to them. And he didn’t ask to see more this time. I suspect I’m deep into rejectomancy now, but still. Oh well. Out it goes again on Monday, err Tuesday. Monday’s Columbus Day, isn’t it? No mail service. Drat.

I feel like I’ve lost my weekend to this mother visiting business. I’m looking forward to going back to work on Monday. How sad is that?

So, okay, I’m pretty happy about my recent sale to the ELP Library, but my mother’s going to be arriving for her visit in a couple days. My chest feels tight and I’m having a hard time sucking a full breath of air in, and earlier today I had a grandmother of a headache. Ain’t stress grand?

It’s so frustrating. I thought I was past the point where she could affect me like this. Apparently not.

Calmblueocean, damn it.

Glad this is my short week. If I had to be at work tomorrow, I’d probably implode. As is, I needed sugar (Skittles from the vending machine at work), caffeine (two large cups of French Vanilla coffee), and drugs (Aleve) to get me through this afternoon.

Writing stats:

Finished a flash piece I started a long time ago. Figured flash-length was about what my attention span could handle. I’d forgotten about it and found it lying around my hard drive, waiting for a spit polish and shine. Out into the world it goes.

Also compiled a couple more submissions to the ELP Library and sent them to Raechel. I just love that venue! It’s such a perfect way to showcase excerpts.

About 100 words on the magic realism piece, and some of those were anti-words. I can’t focus. I can edit and re-write, but I’m having a hard time coming up with new word countage. Maybe the floodgates will open after my mother leaves.

Also, my dark fantasy piece is up on Critters this week. Not the best week to be getting critical feedback. Oh well. “What’s another straw?” said the overburdened donkey.

2003 seems to be the year of extremely short fiction for me. I’ve written and sold a lot of flash and short-shorts. Ironic because I was telling my father-in-law (who is also a writer) last Christmas that I just couldn’t write anything shorter than 2K and still have it be a complete story, and now I’m just cranking them out. Go figure.

Wonder if next year will be the year of the novel. That would be nice. Although I’m not giving up on the prospect of completing The Novel this year. Except I’ve put it down again, and it seems unlikely that I’ll be picking it up again any time soon.

Think I’ll go cling to Hobkin and Matthew while I stress about my mother’s impending visit.

After being massively bummed by the MicroShocks news, I got a major upper email from the editor of the Eggplant Literary Productions Library. She’s buying my excerpt “Visiting Day”! Woohoo!

Well, I’ve hit another writing milestone, officially. A market that I had a story accepted to bit it. 3F Publications/Demonic Books the publisher of the MicroSHOCKS anthology announced that they’re effectively folding. The editor said that he will continue to look for another publisher. But still . . .

Damn.

Writing stats for the weekend:

700 words on the magic realism piece. I just can’t seem to hit “flow” on this one, although I like what I’ve got so far. I even know how I want it to end, but I’m struggling with the getting there part. If I ever finish this story, I think it’ll be a good one. Big if, though.

Five queries to markets that have held manuscripts of mine for 16 months (query #3 to this one), 10 months, 7 months, 6 months, and 5 months, respectively. I’ve been putting these off because I hate querying, but once I started, I got all of them out of the way.

And I did a lot of reorganizing and clean-up of my writing files, both virtual and hard-copy. Had a lot of duplicate files with different names, previous drafts in my final draft folders, and other clutter and messiness. Neatened everything up, made back-ups, and filed away all my USPS receipts.

So, despite the rather piddly word countage, I was productive. But I would have liked to have cranked out more words this weekend.

Yesterday was fun. Fairly mundane and domestic, but nice and a bit silly. We decided that we should get out of the house for a bit, but weren’t sure what to do. Office Max had sent us a coupon ($10 off on a purchase of $20 or more), so we decided to make that our entertainment. In the hallowed halls of the office supply store, we giggled like children and tickled each other, made silly noises, and overall had a blast. And we ended up buying a box of #10 envelopes (’cause I was running low for SASEs), 250 sheets of heavy matte paper, an 8-pack of AAA batteries, and a large container of gummy bears. Then we went to the grocery store and bought some frozen pizzas and chips, and came home and vegged in front of the television with Hobkin, snacking on junk food and watching Fierce Creatures and Blood: the Last Vampire (because it is Halloween season, after all).

Matthew’s re-filled the hot tub, and it’s all primed for use. Think we’ll a nice, long soak in it today. I do love Fall in Georgia.

The SFWA approved Phobos Books as a qualifying sale! I’ve now officially made enough qualifying professional sales for Active membership! As soon as Cricket sends me the contract, I’m upgrading.

Another writing milestone!

Actually, I wonder if the letter of acceptance would work as proof of sale? Cricket can have up to a two year lead time, and I know from my previous sale with that publisher that they won’t send the contract out until after I approve the edits. And I’m pretty sure they don’t do the edits until they’ve got the story scheduled for an issue. Hmm. I’ll ask the folks at the Rumor Mill. But I suspect I’ll have to wait for the contract.

*twitch* But in a good way.

Heard from the editor of In the Outposts of Beyond, the anthology that will have my novelette, “A Little Soul Music,” in it. He expects the book to be out third week of October and payment will be upon publication. Hurray!

Here’s what the cover looks like:

It’ll be a trade paperback, $14.95 + $2.00 S&H ($3.00 S&H to Canada/$5.00 International). Currently, it can be pre-ordered directly from the editor who will also sign it if so requested:

Tyree Campbell
P.O. Box 782
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52406

It should be available from online outlets like Amazon.com in a few weeks.

Haven’t been writing much recently. Been too drained after work to do more than veg and slump on the couch. These next couple weeks are going to be pretty hectic. Maybe I’ll be able to crank out some new word countage when they’re over.