Category Archives: LJ

Hobkin woke me up this morning out of a series of very disturbing dreams. He, of course, was not at all interested in the vagaries of my subconscious and was solely interested in being fed. But I still haven’t shaken off the sleep fog. Couldn’t even remember what day it was for a bit there. I’m having a hard time recalling any details of the dreams now, but they’ve left their indelible imprint upon my Sunday (Sunday, right?) morning. I think my brain is trying to tell me it’s anxious, but I knew that already.

Writing Stuff
New Words: 300
On the folktale, and I’m at zero draft. Woohoo! Going to do a couple editing passes and then hand it off to fosteronfilm to first reader. Will toss it up on Critters the week after next. Quite a productive couple of days. And now I’m perusing the Korean folklore and mythology sites I’ve bookmarked in an effort to tempt my muse to maintain her productive streak.

Club 100 For Writers
39

Watched the 2003 re-make of Peter Pan. Surprising myself, I enjoyed it tremendously. They did an excellent job with casting both Wendy and Peter. Both of those young actors are going to grow up to be hotties. I was especially taken with Rachel Hurd-Wood, the actress playing Wendy, both with how lovely she was, as well as her range. And it certainly had more depth than the Disneyfied version. Charming.

Writing Stuff
Matthew first-readered the folktale. He liked it, happily, and pointed out a couple things I’d overlooked, one of which made me giggle. Did a pair of passes, and it’s now at first draft and loaded into the Critters queue. It should go up next week. I need to do some crits this week, most definitely.

And now that that folktale is off my plate, my muse is all frisky and pleased with herself.

Muse: “That was fun! Let’s do another one.”
Me: “Fun? FUN? My idea of fun is not contorting my brain until blood and words appear on the screen.”
Muse: “You want some cheese with that whine? Suck it up. You’re a writer.”
Me: *splutter*
Muse: “What are you waiting for? Type, biotch!”
Me: *sigh* “Yes’m.”

Club 100 For Writers
37

First off, I want to give a big “thank you” to my anonymous benefactor, mouseferatu, teflaime, and sartorias, who between them, have extended my paid account until well into 2007. *sniffle* I love you guys.

Been watching episodes of The Good Life courtesy Netflix. It’s a British sitcom that came out in the mid-’70s. (When it was released in the U.S. they inexplicably re-named it “The Good Neighbors.”) The premise is that a corporate drone decides on his 40th birthday, with the support of his wife, to quit his job and try to become self-sufficient . . . in Surbiton. They plow up their yard to plant crops, get a goat and chickens, and try their hand at various domestic chores such as churning their own butter and weaving their own wool. Their neighbors, upper crust middle-class folks, are appalled, and provide commentary and periodic assistance as their efforts go awry. Wacky hyjinks ensue.

Matthew introduced me to the show, who in turn was addicted to it by his folks. A charming series. And they ended it when it was still popular because, *gasp*, they’d said everything they had to say and were done.

Anyhoo, while I was watching the opening episodes, I had a brief flash of “could the Fosters become self-sufficient?” This is what happens after a couple blackberry pies and talk of jam, I tell you. Thankfully, sanity intruded immediately. I reminded myself that I can’t grow a ficus. If I try to nurture a plant, it dies. The blackberries are thriving because I am stoically ignoring them except when they start fruiting. I also am sensitive to the point of allergic to sunlight (thanks to lupus), Matthew has a bad back, and I’m sure our home owners association would have hysterics en masse if we started keeping chickens. But I did find myself wondering if blueberries grow in this part of the country. Blueberry pie would be a nice addition to our summer harvest. Am I defying the capricious gods of agriculture to even contemplate such an undertaking?

Writing Stuff
Received a 64-day “Nice writing here but didn’t like it enough to buy” personal rejection from Ellen Datlow of SCI FICTION.

New Words: 600, -100
On the folktale. Galvanized to finish it, I plowed ahead and finally made it to zero draft. Did a couple passes and managed to cull out 100 words. Going to give it a few more passes and then hand it over to the hubby to first reader. He’s getting a bit white around the eyes with everything he needs to do for Dragon*Con, but I’ll bribe him with pie. Plan to toss it up to Critters next week, and if all goes well, it’ll be out the door week after that. Whew. This was one was rather like pulling teeth.

Club 100 For Writers
36

500/day
64

Urg. LiveJournal sent me notification that my paid account is expiring in ten days. I suspect hoping for another visit from the LJ fairy is foolish, so I’m resigned to letting my paid account lapse. Bummer. It’s a silly thing, but I like all the paid features like being able to customize the appearance of my blog, and all my pretty user icons. But I really can’t rationalize buying myself a paid account when money’s so tight. There are decided disadvantages to not having a reliable income.

[Edit: Squee! Thank you, thank you anonymous patron who gifted me with 2 paid months!
Edit2: mouseferatu just bought me 6 paid months! Thank you so much!
Edit3: teflaime just got me 12 paid months as an early Christmas present and sartorias transferred the remainder of her paid account to me! Mwaaa! I love you all! ]

Blackberry pie v3.0 turned out quite well. I was going to take another picture, but it was so bubbly and seductive, it got sliced up and pieces devoured before I could set the camera up.

Writing Stuff
Got an email from Absynthe Muse. They’ve assigned a mentee to me. I feel all grown up.

New Words: -300
On the folk tale. I hacked off 300 words from the beginning and it’s still over 2K. And it’s still not even at zero draft yet. I debated whether I should try to keep cutting or plow on ahead. I ended up doing neither and fiddling with my writing logs instead. Cat waxing, anyone?

Club 100 For Writers
35

Ate up the last of blackberry pie V2.0 and coming down from my HP6 binge. Very sad. So today, I’m making another pie! I shall be most bummed when the blackberry bushes stop producing. They’re already winding down. Matthew reports that most of the bushes look like they’re on their last legs, and we’ll be lucky if we get another decent pick. I think, if they can hold out for another day or so, that we’ll have enough berries for one more pie after this one. Four pies and plenty of berries for ice cream, that would be a pretty impressive crop for something that springs up uncultivated and unplanted out of our backyard. Sweet. Even three pies and an excess of ice cream berries is quite the windfall.

Writing Stuff
Did a couple editing passes on a rejected story before sending it out. No new words, but at least I haven’t fallen off the Club 100 bandwagon.

Club 100 For Writers
34

Went to the library yesterday to check out Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. I’d put a hold on it before it came out, but I was still pleasantly surprised that I was able to get it so quickly. Spent last night staying up way too late reading it, then woke up way too early to finish it. Unfortunately, in between there, I checked my email, popped out to LJ, and promptly had the ending utterly spoiled for me. At which point I shut down my computer and resolved not to have any other outside contact with the world until I was done.

Bastards!

I don’t understand the glee which people get when they ruin the enjoyment other people get out of something. Mean-spirited much? I’ve been being so careful not to encounter any spoilers, and then someone posts the ending climax in big, bold letters as the top post in their LJ without a cut or warning or anything. It wasn’t anyone on my flist, but just someone whose post I saw in a community and hopped out to their blog to see who they were. I still finished the book, but the whole impact was lessened, and I can’t help but wonder how it would have hit me if I hadn’t known what was going to happen. Guess I’ll never know now.

After my marathon reading session, I fell asleep for the rest of the day. Now I’m trying to play catch-up on all the things that needed my attention when I was either reading, offline, or sacked out. My sleep-wake cycle is whacked.

Writing Stuff
And the rejections start coming in:
18-day “Nice writing here but . . .” from F&SF. Sigh.
159-day form no from Cemetery Dance

But then we had blackberry pie. Everything is better with pie.

Must. Write.

I have achieved another blackberry pie! A more attractive specimen than my last effort, I think:

Packed in another cup of blackberries, and I still ended up with a flattish top. And the blackberries seem to have taken on a reddish cast in the baking, moreso than the previous one. Don’t know why. Still very yummy. I am, ye verily, quite pleased with my pie efforts to date.

Today’s the last Dragon*Con all-staff meeting. I should be full-up on staff now. Hurray!

Writing Stuff
Still no rejections in the mail. My hope and anticipation are getting frisky. I’ve now got a couple stories at markets that have officially exceeded the response times I’ve been seeing posted at the Rumor Mill. I’m trying to stay grounded, but it’s hard.