Category Archives: LJ

Working working working

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Sick and tired of hurting, and fed up with filling my LJ with “ow, ow, poor me” posts, so I’ll just gloss over that part and leave it at “ouch.”

10 min/day
5
Dragged Matthew out for a walk around the neighborhood.


Writing Stuff

Received a note out of the blue from an editor who had previously rejected a story after requesting a rewrite. After some pondering, he’s changed his mind and wants it now. But, of course, it’s already out at another market, one that I’ve sold to before, which makes me definitely inclined not to pull it. Erm. Puts me in a strange position. I’ve emailed the editor back and told him that if the current market where it’s under consideration passes on it, he can have it, but that it might take several months (or longer–these folks don’t respond quickly) before I’ll know for sure.

Weird.

Wrote and published a couple reviews for Tangent. Also added a new poetry category. We’re reviewing poetry now, thanks to gardenwaltz, our new poetry reviewer. I’m pretty jazzed ’bout that.

Been pondering writing an editorial for Tangent to provide another voice to it, but I don’t really want to launch into a political diatribe, and I sort of feel that most of the “hot” topics in the specfic consciousness are either silly (“What is Fantasy/Science Fiction/Slipstream/etc?”) or have been talked/debated/argued into the ground by luminaries far more knowledgeable than lil ole me (The state of the short fiction market, recent trends in subject matter, etc.)

I dunno. Is there anything people who read short fiction (and poetry) SF/F/H reviews really want discussed in an editorial?

A Harmony of Foxes
New words: 122
Cranked out a minimum number and called it a day. Trying to give my wingstubs a rest.

Zokutou word meterZokutou word meter
15,624 / 45,000
(34.0%)

Club 100 For Writers
30

Writing this week off

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Ow. Crap. Sinuses utterly fubarred. Wingstubs hurting. I think it might be best to write this week off as a loss.

Saw The Abominable Dr. Philbes for the first time yesterday. fosteronfilm was astonished I’d never seen it before. I was not nearly as impressed by it as Matthew is. I’m thinking the rose-colored veneer of childhood delight have colored his perceptions. Sure it was surreal and wacky, but it didn’t work for me overall. I did like the flying fox bats and the cute, plump rats, but since they were supposed to be perpetrators of horrific death, I don’t think I was supposed to go “Awww! Wuzzy widdle cuteness, squee!”

10 min/day
4
Yoga and ballet, and a few belly dance isolations to start toning my abs. Actually seeing a bit of an improvement already in flexibility.


Writing Stuff

Received a 25-day “a rich tale, but . . . ” from Flesh & Blood with invite to submit again.

New Words: 100 on the short story and called it a day. Feeling too crappy to write.

Club 100 For Writers
29

Hanging in there

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Thanks to everyone who posted well wishes yesterday. I’m still hurting today, but I’m better. I love Sudafed. It makes me sniffly and wired, but anything that eases the pressure is a godsend.

Dragged Matthew out for a walk. We both could use the exercise. It was a lovely evening, cool and soft. It helped my headache, although my wingstubs still ached. Makes for a hard time writing, but it was good to get out. Also had a nice, long soak in the hot tub, which helped unkink the muscles that are all tensed up from hurting all the time. Trying to limit my non-writing keyboard time to give my body a chance to heal. Trying.

10 min/day
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Writing Stuff

keesa_renee, fellow Critter (currently on hiatus), totally made my day. In her LJ post yesterday she listed her favorite short stories, and she included two of mine with works by O. Henry and H.C. Bunner. I need to print that post frame it. It put a much needed glowy smile on my face. Thank you, Keesa. I’m honored beyond words. And, to further illustrate how totally cool she is, she introduced me to the most amazing concept, BookCrossing, where folks set their books free to be enjoyed by others.

New Words: 550 on the short story

Club 100 For Writers
28

500/day
39

Not my favorite May Day

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Had a lot of pain issues yesterday. Wingstubs flaring up and a sinus headache that all but reduced me to tears. Did some yoga, which helped but only briefly, and sat down to write with limited success. In the end, I curled up with Hobkin and tried to sleep, but couldn’t relax. So Matthew read to me–one of the stories out of the Polyphony 4 anthology, actually a part of one of the stories–and I managed to relax enough to fall asleep. I love my hubby.

Still hurting this morning, which does not bode well for the day.

10 min/day
2


Writing Stuff

Did 200 words on the fantasy short, but couldn’t push on. Stupid traitorous human suit. Did some research on Han warfare tactics, armor, and weaponry. The Chinese had handheld crossbows in 200 BC. They also had steel. Wow. Also did some research into the clothing styles, Hanfu, which were very different from the mandarin styles that gained prominence in subsequent dynasties.

Club 100 For Writers
27

Melancholy rain

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The thunder woke me up. Not Matthew, of course, he could sleep through the gates of Hell crashing open. Although he can’t sleep through a ringing phone, mwa ha haaaa.

I’ve noticed that since I’ve stopped having to drive through Atlanta traffic, I quite like the rain. The gray light, the soothing susurrus of raindrops, it’s soothing. There’s a tendency for it also to make me melancholy in a self-indulgent sort of way. I become introspective, but not in a particularly insightful manner. Wallowing in glumness. How very goth. This time, I’m dwelling on my dreams, both the REM variety, and the aspirations for the future variety. They managed to overlap this morning.

I’ve been having some very detailed sleepy-time dreams of late, with convoluted storylines and fairly in-depth plot development. It worries me that I may be a better storyteller when I’m sawing logs than when I’m wide awake. It’s so fleeting too. In that twilight coming-out-of-REM state, I vow to myself that I won’t forget what I dreamed so I can write it down and maybe turn it into a story. But when I open my eyes, all I can remember is the elusive sense of a really cool concept, and the fact that despite my firm resolutions, I’ve totally forgotten all the details of the marvelous dream. Wish I could stick a video recorder in my brain.

Days like these, I find myself wondering about my writing in general–where I’m going with it, if I’m deluding myself that I have the talent and vision to make my goal of writerly self-sufficiency become a reality. Maybe I should resign myself ultimately to being a cubicle-drone and treat writing as a hobby.

Or perhaps I’m still shaking off the maudlin haze from last night. Too much gin. Excellent company–glenn5 swung by to hang–but too much gin.


Writing Stuff

A Harmony of Foxes
New words: 107
Despite what various and sundry famous historical figures have accomplished, writing and alcohol don’t seem to mix for me. I did my 100 and called it a night.

Zokutou word meterZokutou word meter
14,548 / 45,000
(32.0%)

Club 100 For Writers
25

Exercise resolution

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I’ve noticed that lately my coordination is totally gone, as in careen-off-walls and walk-into-the-coffee-table gone, and there is a distinct lack of muscle tone anywhere on my body. I mean crap, I used to be a dancer, for godsakes. I did ballet, karate, and yoga, and now I can’t walk up a couple flights of stairs without getting tired. Not to mention I’m afraid to step on the scale.

So I broke out the yoga mat last night. Began some easy asanas, a couple sun salutations, then segued that into some ridiculously low-key ballet exercises. After getting my heart rate up, and feeling my muscles freak out on some grand plies (sheesh), I switched back to yoga to cool down. I’m totally disgusted at how badly out of shape I am. But I feel good that I actually moved. I think being at home so much has degraded an already sedentary life style. It’s pathetic, not to mention unhealthy.

So I’m going to, once again, try to stick some exercise into my daily schedule. I can’t complain that I don’t have the time for it anymore, that’s for sure. I’m really bad at sustaining work out resolutions, but I’m thinking that if I log the days that I work out in my LJ, sort of like my club 100 efforts with my writing, I might be able to keep a better handle on my goals. Thus, I’m going to try to work out for a measly ten minutes a day, every day (except weekends, because I believe in weekends), for one hundred days straight:

10 Min/Day
1


Writing Stuff

Got an email from the editor of Here & Now asking for my PayPal information so she’ll know where to send my payment. Double issue #5/6 with my short story “When the Lights Go Out” is due back from the printers any day now. Finally and woohoo!

Also, anaisdotmfk.com launched early. It’s up, it’s up! Stories in there by me, wicked_wish, naamah_darling, the editrix herself, jinzi, and more. Go read. Juicy erotica. You know you want it!

I decided not to tear open my submission packet on the folktale. If I start second guessing myself now, it won’t be long before they come to put me in a nice, padded room. Down that path lies madness. Madness! So it’s winging it’s way to my Cricket editor’s desk now. Fly little story!

Words: 1178.
Back to work on A Harmony of Foxes. Although now that I’ve once again emptied my waiting queue to the Cricket folks, I’m wondering if I should crank out another to put in reserve as I could hear back from them on a submission as soon as the next couple weeks. Ponder ponder.

Zokutou word meterZokutou word meter
14,434 / 45,000
(32.0%)


Club 100 For Writers
24

500/day
37

Interview, meh

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So the interview . . . went. I really, really hate phone interviews. I just can’t gauge anything with just a voice to work with. And I don’t make the best impression over the phone. I work best with body language and eye contact. Generally, I think it went okay. Probably closer to the “meh” side of okay than the “!!” side. We’ll see.


Writing Stuff

Finished the rewrite on the folktale after several more passes, packaged it up to go to Cricket, and then received six more Critters critiques, including a couple that make me want to go back in and do another several passes. Urg. Tear into the submission envelope, or just let it go as is? I hate second guessing myself.

Also received the contract from benpayne for “The Life and Times of Penguin” that’s scheduled for issue #18 of Andromeda Spaceways. Signed and sending it out to Aussie-land today. And I saw on their website that they’ve posted the cover art for #18. Pretty:

Club 100 For Writers
23

xXx, interview prep

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fosteronfilm and I went to an advance screening of xXx: State of the Union last night. I thought the first xXx was pretty fun. Vacuous, but fun. I was hoping the sequel would be similarly enjoyable. Unfortunately, it was pretty sucky. The dialog was beyond sucky, though, it was really terrible. As in embarrassingly awful. There were a few amusing one-liners, but basically, it left me wondering who the screenwriter slept with in order to land such a cushy gig, ’cause it certainly wasn’t through their writing abilities. The storyline was simplistic and contrived, and the urban stereotypes were second in badness (not the good badness, the bad kind) only in comparison to the dialog. There were fun elements, but . . . ah, just read fosteronfilm‘s review of it. He does a better job of picking it apart and analyzing all the pieces than I could.

arkhamrefugee was going to try to snag us advance screening tix to Serenity for the May 5th showing in Atlanta which I have much more faith in. Unfortunately, they’re only selling tickets in pairs, so he wasn’t able to get the requisite number. Damn. (Yes, I’ve seen the trailer. How could I miss it? Every other person on my FL seems to have linked to it. Hey, wouldn’t want to buck the trend: Serenity Trailer.) I’m a total Firefly fangirl. Joss Whedon, squee! Must. See. Serenity.

Got my phone interview this afternoon. So far, nervous, but not of the twitching, shivering variety. I also got a call from a different head hunter for a business analyst position for, again, a similar salary range as my previous position, and again, they’re local so I wouldn’t have to commute downtown. That helps mitigate some of the anxiety as it seems there are multiple job opportunities for the sort of work I do in the area. If I screw this interview up, I’ll have other options. It gives me the luxury of being able to evaluate the company this afternoon as well as being evaluated by them.

It does appear that the head hunters have found me. Yay? Again, pleased to be getting calls, but ambivalent about returning to a 9-5 cubicle-monkey position. But if that’s what it takes to put food on the table (or more to the point, keep my health benefits), then I better suck it up and resign myself to being a corporate drone. Again. Being a responsible grown-up has its downers.


Writing Stuff

Words: Rewrite of folktale going well. Pair of passes and I’m pretty pleased with it. Going to give it another spit shine, and then package it up to Cricket. I’ve received so many critiques from Critters on this one that it blows my stats figuring to hell. Generally the story was quite well received. It made one reviewer cry, which surprised me because I didn’t think it was as emotionally wrenching as some of my other works, but I’m always delighted when I evoke such a heartfelt response.

And I’m very excited that jinzi‘s new erotica publication, Anaisdotmfk, is taking shape nicely. Having a story in the premier issue (“Only Springtime When She’s Gone”), I’ve gotten to see the site pre-unveiling, and it’s really gorgeous. It’s going live on May 1st. Keep your clicking fingers poised!

Club 100 For Writers
22