Category Archives: LJ

Japanese fantasy at zero draft. Finally.

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Hmm. I’ve had a couple spam comments in my blog in the last couple weeks. They’re the first spam I’ve had here in LJ-land. Wonder if the spammers are getting better at circumnavigating the anti-spam protocols LJ has in place or if the anti-spam protocols went through some “upgrade” that fubarred them.

Anyhoo, on Sunday, I hung out with and assisted terracinque and donovanj99 while they conducted a photoshoot thingy. We roamed the Decatur square area whereupon I was charmed by much of the flora and architecture: the old courthouse, a lovely church, a brick alley (the one next to Eddie’s Attic) with wrought iron banisters and copper downspouts, and sweeping magnolia trees. I snapped several pix of terracinque with my point-and-shoot Nikon CoolPix and here are a few of my favs:

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Sleep is for the dead

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Muchly sleep deprived. Got to bed late and was awakened frequently and prematurely by a restless skunk. Ended up getting up at 5:30ish, so I decided to just come into work early. I noticed that it’s much quieter on the MARTA at 7:45 than it is at 8:15. The train’s still as full, but that half hour difference seems to render everyone dazed and blinking.

   


Writing Stuff

Urg. I’m so behind on Tangent work. I’m the furthest behind I’ve ever been. The reviews-to-be-published are piling up, but I’ve been making such good wordage progress that I didn’t want to stop writing. Meep.

Received:
– Payment from Realms of Fantasy for “The Devil and Mrs. Comstock’s Snickerdoodles” (slated for their Feb. ’07 issue).
– Payment from GrendelSong for “Shim Chung the Lotus Queen” (in their premiere issue).
– squirrel-monkey suggested to darinbradley that he tender me an invite to submit something for the Farrago’s Wainscot (farragoblog) project. He did, and I did, and F’sW will be reprinting “The Life and Times of Penguin.” Shiny!
– 13-day alas-o-gram from GVG of F&SF.

New Words/Editing:
– About a paragraph’s worth of words on the Pseudopod rewrite request, several editing passes, and it’s lobbed back for editorial judgment.
– 700 words on the collaboration story I’m writing with mtrimm1. Debating whether I want to finish the scene or bat it back.
– 1200 words on the Japanese fantasy, now tentatively titled “Hannya-Shin-Kyo: The Stillness Between Thoughts.” Tamed my snarling plot bunny and getting close to the home stretch.

Zokutou word meterZokutou word meter
4,783 / 6,000
(79.7%)

Columbus Day

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I get tomorrow off! I haven’t had Columbus Day off since I was in school. My new job continues to rock my eyeballs. And how’s this for sweet, sweet icing? The Representatives and Senators left on Friday at 2:30, so us Legislative Counsel folks got to too. Half day, woot!

   


Writing Stuff

basletum interviewed me for SpecMusicMuse. Shiny!

Published:
– My October Writing for Young Readers column: “Hi/Lo Books: Writing for Reluctant Readers” is now up at Writing-World.

New Words:
– 500 on the Japanese fantasy, and I’ve come upon a plot snag. Pondering, pondering.

Zokutou word meterZokutou word meter
3,560 / 6,000
(59.3%)

Received:
– Contract from Faeries for French reprint of “Of Two Minds in Lanais.”
– Contract from Helix.
– Contrib. copy of Grendel Song. Yay!

Circus at the state building

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So the editorial folks here at the capitol are going to the circus this morning. The nut job who’s trying to ban Harry Potter books, after being shot down at the school and then school board level, is appealing her case to the Georgia State Board of Education. The hearing is this morning at 10AM across the street in the Twin Towers State Building, and we’re all going to watch the spectacle.

On the more wholesome amusing front, britzkrieg forwarded along this link to Cute Overload which made me giggle. Baby skunkies!

   


Writing Stuff

New Words:
– 200 on the Japanese fantasy-with-no-title. Didn’t get nearly as much done on it yesterday as I wanted to. Foo.

Zokutou word meterZokutou word meter
3,059 / 6,000
(51.0%)

Received:
– 24-day rewrite request from Pseudopod. Squinching my brain to determine how best to implement their suggestion.
– 150-day form nope from One Story. Pfft. But this was something of a long shot anyway.

Skunk in purse

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Came out of the shower this morning to discover a skunk in my purse and the previous contents displaced and flung helter-skelter about. I made the fundamental error of thinking that when fosteronfilm talks clearly and lucidly in the early AM, that he’s actually awake.

Me: I’m gonna go shower now. Hobkin’s sleeping under the covers there, okay? You can watch him if he wakes up?
fosteronfilm: Skunk there. Yep, we’re fine.

After my shower:
Me: Aghh, my purse! You were supposed to be watching him!
Matthew: Wha? *blinks, yawns* I was?

No harm done. I keep my various medication bottles in a separate zippered bag that little paws can’t (or at least haven’t yet figured out how to) open. And I really should know better by now. My hubby is so not a morning person. Although I don’t know how I would have explained bringing a skunk to work by accident . . .

   


Writing Stuff

After lamenting about the dry spell I was having sales-wise, I made two yesterday! Woohoo!

Received:
– 1-day sale to Helix. “Addy in My Mind” is slated for their January issue.
– 114-day sale to new U.K. ‘zine, Hub. “Wanting to Want” will be in their premiere issue, which I believe is coming out in December.
And, because three sales in one day is just too much to hope for:
– 111-day “almost” from John O’Neill of Black Gate with invite to submit again. While he liked it, the ending was too much of a downer for them. Alas.

Happy October

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October, one of my favorite months. Autumn, Halloween, purple skies, and magical moons. And this one is particularly nifty in that it marks the resumption of employer-sponsored group health insurance for fosteronfilm and me. Whew.

Thanks to everyone who responded to my shout out about Apex Digest‘s financial crisis and subscribed and/or entered the raffle. Due to the huge outpouring of support, Apex LIVES! Y’all are great.

   


Writing Stuff

New Words:
– 800 on the Japanese fantasy. And a bit of editing to tighten up the beginning. I was worried that I was losing control of it and it was spiralling out of my target word count, but I managed to accomplish a lot more in the scene I just wrote than I thought I would. I’m thinking maybe two more scenes total–climax and denouement–and I’m done. Rah.

Still no title, though . . .

Zokutou word meterZokutou word meter
2,856 / 6,000
(47.6%)

Received:
– 143-day personal no from Shawna McCarthy (RoF) with nice things to say and helpful comments.
– 1-day “isn’t quite what I’m looking for” with invite to submit again from the new ‘zine, Spacesuits and Sixguns.
– 21-day “enjoyed this . . . very well written . . . loved the characterization, but . . .” from Firefox News.
– 1-day “the writing is well done but . . .” from Trabuco Road.

I haven’t had a sale in over a month now. I’m beginning to jones. Wah!

Procrastination bug, must stomp

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For most of today, I languished in a haze of under-motivated lethargy–randomly surfing, hopping from one editorial task to another without completing anything, and prodding various WiPs halfheartedly. That hasn’t happened in QUITE a while. I haven’t had the luxury of being able to drag my feet or putter about sighing “I don’t feel like doing this” in so long, I feel guilty, like I’ve done something wrong.

It’s not that my plate is free of hamsters or anything–on the contrary, my “Things to Do” list continues to threaten to overflow the page–but rather there are now a manageable number of the buggers swarming over it, resulting in a less panicked, frantic, and frenzied me. While most certainly a good thing, it’s also made me wonder if I need the impetus of a Damoclesian sword to keep up my level of productivity.

Or maybe I’m overthinking it and can allow myself the occasional day of wallowing in profligate indolence. Meh.

But tomorrow, I really need to get back to work . . .

   


Writing Stuff

New Words:
– 600 on the Japanese fantasy. Still no title, dammit.

Received:
– Payment from Writing-World for next month’s Writing for Young Readers column. Zounds, that was speedy. Me likie.

Dark chocolate-related skunk guilt

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Patrick and Christie came by last night to watch School for Scoundrels, the 1960 one with Alastair Sim, not the recent abomination starring Billy Bob Thornton. Good fun and good movie, unfortunately, Hobkin was not well. He’s been doing great this whole week, ever since I started putting a few drops of Rescue Remedy in his dinner. But this was a different sort of GI unhappiness, and I’ve been wracking my brain, trying to figure out what could be causing it.

I’m wondering now if he ate a sliver of dark chocolate. I had a couple pieces of dark chocolate yesterday morning, and when I was breaking the squares off the bar, a crumb or two fell on the floor. I wiped them up with a damp paper towel, but Hobkin was at my feet when it happened, and he might’ve snarfed up a tiny sliver–and I do mean tiny, as in much, much less than chocolate frosting on a birthday candle or a single semi-sweet chocolate chip. But it’s dark chocolate, which is much more toxic to little beasties than milk chocolate or cocoa powder.

Fortunately, after a lot of Pepto-Bismol on bread, Hobkin seems to be over whatever it was.

I, however, remain guilt-stricken.

   


Writing Stuff

New Words/Editing:
– 800 or so on my next Writing for Young Readers column, several editing passes, and sent it off to ye olde editor. Anuzzer hamster out the door.

Netherworld and Apex raffle

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fosteronfilm and I went to the opening night of the Netherworld Haunted House yesterday with Patrick and Christie. It was way cool! Okay, I’m a huge wimp when it comes to horror, and I had some major trepidation about going. But it was hella fun!

We went to all three “haunts,” doing the evil clown one (“Dr. Bile’s Freak Pit and Museum of Oddities“) first. That was my least favorite ’cause it was just a smidgen too dark, lightwise, but it was chock full of gibbering evil clowns. You just can’t go wrong with evil clowns. Although my favorite part might have been watching the group behind us. At the end, there’s a chainsaw-wielding scary that lunges out and chases you from the premises, and one of those guys had apparently seen one too many slasher flicks. When Scary-chainsaw Guy came after him, he bolted out the door, launched himself over the stairwell, and tumbled down the embankment, before getting to his feet and pelting off. Goodness. I’m surprised he didn’t hurt himself. Also, he left his female companion in his dust. Mmmf.

Next up was “Cursed,” a more traditional haunt with undead bugaboos, cemetery decor, smoke effects, and shambling ghouls throughout. It was gorgeous! Some of the animatronics were mind-bogglingly impressive: huge, gargoyle-type creatures gesturing and snarling overhead, demonesque monsters flailing and writhing. Wow. I actually wished there’d been fewer monsters lunging out at me so I could just enjoy the spectacle of it without having my heart leaping into my throat at regular intervals. But y’know, gotta keep the adrenalin surging.

And last was “Shock-o-Rama,” a psychedelic, 3D haunt full of fluorescent paint black light effects and twisted/macabre scenes to admire (I especially liked the twisted fairy tales gallery and the dominatrix Snow White with her sub Dwarfs) and a maze of mirrors–the kind you actually get lost in while scary monsters perch in the center stock-still, only to lunge out at you when you turn your back on them.

Tons o’scary fun, and I highly recommend it as a great way to start off the Halloween season.

   


Writing Stuff

Mary Robinette Kowal put together a raffle to help save Apex Digest. Inspired! I donated a signed copy of my chapbook, Inspirations End/Still My Beating Heart, to the cause, as well as my editing services. I’ll edit/critique a story (up to 8k) to the winner. And there’s tons of other great stuff, like autographed books by Brian Keene, Kevin J. Anderson, and Sherrilyn Kenyon; subscriptions to magazines including Dark Discoveries, Shimmer, and Clarkesworld Magazine; original artwork; and sexy outgoing phone messages by voice actor (and Shimmer editor) Mary Robinette Kowal. Go buy a raffle ticket, yo! Only one dollar each, amazing schtuff to be won!

Published:
– Part 1 of my article, “Writing Multicultural Fiction for Children,” is now up at Writing-World.

Fear the Gods of Transportation

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I think the gods of transportation were miffed yesterday.

In the morning, during rush hour, a woman managed to shut down northbound lanes on I-85 and southbound lanes on I-75 when she threatened to jump off an overpass bridge. Also, a cable came loose inside the southbound MARTA tunnel. yukinooruoni‘s train ran over the thing resulting in big sparkage, and I can only assume major slowdowns. In the evening, I noticed that all the electronic notifications (the scrolling marquees that tell you how long until the next train, etc.) were off when I was awaiting a northbound train, and when I got on my train, the onboard television was off with a message warning of an imminent hard drive failure. And then, to cap it off, my train stopped, and the operator announced that there’d been a “medical emergency” at the Civic Center station (I’ve scanned the AJC headlines this morning but haven’t seen any further details). My train was taken out of service, and were instructed to get out and wait for the northbound train coming along on the opposite track.

Of course, that train was jam-packed, standing-room-only.

People were taking the delay and inconvenience with generally good humor. I amused myself by watching my fellow passengers and their seemingly-instinctive body positionings as they attempted not to invade each others’ personal space despite being crammed together. There were a lot of people standing back-to-back in the aisles (personal space boundaries are much smaller behind than in front) and angled so they wouldn’t be pointing directly at any of the people in the seats. And everyone had that blank, unfocused expression people get when they’re desperately trying not to look at anyone or make eye contact.

Also, I saw (and experienced) “sitters guilt,” survivors guilt’s baby cousin twice removed. It’s when someone gets off, and you take their seat, but feel guilty that everyone else still has to strap-hang. Despite being the closest person to the seat, I felt like I’d done something wrong when I plunked myself down. It wasn’t like anyone was glaring at me for taking it, or that there was anyone more in need of it, but I still felt guilty. And I noticed a similar uncomfortable expression of guilt cross the young man’s face who took the next empty seat across from me.

Brains are weird, and watching people on the MARTA is fascinating.

REMINDER: Please subscribe to Apex Digest! Apex needs to bring in 200 new subscriptions or it’ll be forced to close. (More details.)

   


Writing Stuff

The online GrendelSong launch party has commenced! Put on your virtual party hats and head on over:

Published:
– The podcast of “Returning My Sister’s Face” is now up at Pseudopod! It’s read by Stephen Eley who did a fabu job and handled all the Japanese words speckling the tale with amazing aplomb. Go listen, yo!