Category Archives: Blog

Veteran’s day. USPS holiday. Sigh. I’m so mail-oriented.

6000 words into my S&S tale. But that’s real count. Manuscript count is over 7K. I’m kinda rattled at how long it’s become. Acht. I keep telling myself to just finish the damn thing, word length be damned, and then I can go back in and cut as needed. But once I reach this point, knowing how much I’ve got left (certainly over 1K, maybe even 2K), I get inhibited.

Stupid muse.

I liked Angel last night. I laughed much. It was nice, seeing Joss at work again. And then Connor entered. Agh. Went downhill from there in my estimation. And the whole Gunn/Fred relationship thing is now irritating me. What happened last episode should have strengthened their relationship, not weakened it, dammit.

But on a completely lascivious note, Alexis Denisof sure looked sexy. I like what they’ve turned Wesley into. Gives him a yummy edge. Rrrowwl.

Okay, I listened to y’all who said “too grainy, take more pix” and I made Matthew get out the digicam.

This is the picture I think I like the best from the shoot, but there are others I ended up liking too.

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Okay, here’s me being incredibly vain. Phobos has asked me for a picture, bio, and little “what inspired you to write your winning story” essay for their website. I’ve got the bio, and am currently working on the “what inspired me” essay. But I’m dithering on the picture.

I’ve got two shots of me I like, but they were taken in some really dark lighting and are blurry and/or grainy. Even after some photoshopping, they’re still pretty blurry/grainy. And to make matters worse, I can’t decide which one I like better.

I’m soliciting opinions:

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Okay, I was too zingy from the Phobos news to write yesterday, as had been my previous intention. Actually, my plan was to spend this weekend writing, so I’m hoping to make up some lost writing time today.

So, instead of a having a night spent hunched over my laptop, Matthew made chocolate chip cookies to celebrate the Phobos thing and we rented Brotherhood of the Wolf. Cookies good. Mmm. Yummy. Movie . . . well, it was pretty. I don’t think I’m ready for a French costume drama/Hong Kong action flick/werewolf movie. It was rather depressing, as I’ve found French movies often are, and rather fragmented. Characters came and went without me being able to understand their purpose or motivation.

But, it was pretty. The cinematography was A-1 and the fight scene choreography was jaw-droppingly good. But sometimes, pretty just ain’t enough.

Then we hopped into the hot tub. Ahhh. Hot tubby goodness.

I think my light-headedness over the Phobos thing has lifted a bit, although I’m still grinning like a fool. Let’s see if I can get some word count happening.

I just got the notification! My short story “All In My Mind” is a winner of the Phobos 2nd Annual Fiction contest!

$500 and publication in the anthology! I’m so ecstatic my hands are shaking!

Orson Scott Card and Larry Niven read my story and they liked it! EEEEE!

Feeling rather bleak about the outcome of yesterday’s election. Happily, Amendment 6 appears to have passed–or it was certainly going in that direction when I last looked. But everything else. Urg. Enough about that. Too depressing.

Okay, one more thing: can any Floridans tell me if Amendment 10 on your ballot made it?

On a light and fluffy note, Nick, Paul, Matthew, and I went to see Star Wars:Attack of the Clones at the Imax theater at the Mall of Georgia on Saturday. Paul came out of it making “bzzt” and “fwing” noises. Hee. They did a lot of editing to make it Imax-length, and all of the edits were goods ones. Ones they should have made for the normal-sized theater release. And seeing AotC on the really, really big screen is awesome. Even if the close-up head shots got a little overwhelming.

And I liked last night’s Buffy. The scene with **minor spoiler alert** Spike taking the bazooka away from Buffy had me giggling like a maniac **/minor spoiler alert**. But I’m trepidatious about Angel. I really liked what **minor spoiler alert** Gunn did for Fred. I think it ought to cement their relationship, make it stronger, deeper, more intense, but I’m not sure if the writers will agree with my philosophy on relationships. If they don’t, then there’s a huge potential for massive suckitude **/minor spoiler alert**. And from the teaser “next time on Angel” they showed, it looks unlikely that they’ll be touching upon Gunn and Fred’s relationship next week. Ack.

Writing stats:
A slew of rejections in the mail over the weekend to offset the rewrite request from Cricket. I console myself that the majority of them were personal, encouraging, and asked to see more stuff from me. But they were still “no”s. And I’m running out of submission places for one story I’ve been peddling since 2000. I keep getting “we really liked this, the writing was great, I’m sure you’ll sell this one” comments, which are immediately followed by “but not to us”s. Argh.

4500 words into a S&S tale. My first in that sub-genre. Belated but greatly enthusiastic thanks to oracne for the market head’s up. Racing to finish it in time for the deadline. Wow, I’m writing to a deadline. I almost feel all growed up.

Crossposted to

For all Georgians: Vote Yes for Amendment 6 tomorrow!

Action alert from the Humane Association of Georgia:

VOTE YES ON AMENDMENT 6 for the Dog & Cat License Plate that will help save lives!

AMENDMENT 6 would establish a program that would control dog and cat overpopulation and thereby reduce the number of animals housed and killed in animal shelters. The program will be funded by the voluntary purchase of special license plates.

WHY DOES GEORGIA NEED A DOG & CAT LICENSE PLATE?

Dog and cat overpopulation is a tragic problem in all areas of Georgia. Every year, thousands of healthy, friendly cats and dogs are killed in Georgia shelters because people have allowed their pets and strays to breed, and there are not enough homes for them all. IN addition, many Georgians cannot afford to sterilize their pets. Sterilization (spaying/neutering) is the humane solution to dog and cat overpopulation. It reduces:

*The number of stray cats and dogs
*Dogs and cats housed and killed in shelters
*City/county tax burden for animal control
*Destruction to property and livestock
*Health risks and bad behavior
*Car accidents
*Wildlife and habitat destruction
*Spread of diseases like rabies
*Injuries to people and other animals

Purchase of the license plate would be voluntary. It is an easy way to fund this important program, and the great-looking license plate will show others that you care about dogs and cats.

HOW WILL THE DOG & CAT STERILIZATION PROGRAM WORK?

As with other “specialty” license plates, county tag offices will collect additional funds with the usual tag fee for each license plate purchased. The money generated by sales of the plate will:

*Help pay for sterilization procedures
*Provide educational materials about the importance of sterilization
*Promote sales of the plate

The Georgia Department of Agriculture will use an existing accounting system to pay licensed veterinarians in Georgia to perform spay or neuter procedures for dogs and cats.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:

Humane Association of Georgia (HAGA)
1317 Hearst Drive
Atlanta, GA 30319
(404) 827-0603
(478) 745-4099
http://www.humaneassociationofgeorgia.org

PLEASE VOTE YES ON AMENDMENT 6 ON NOVEMBER 5TH!

Hot damn! Cricket sent me a rewrite requet for my kitsune folktale! Not as good as a sale, but much better than a kick in the teeth!

This will require some dwelling upon . . .

Haven’t had a chance to update my LJ in days and days and days what with having company and all. Paul and Nick are here. Hurray! Right now, the boys are asleep and Hobkin is having a snack, so I’m taking this moment to scribble down a quick “catch up” entry.

October is perfect hot tub weather. Just perfect. Matthew thought we were all going to overflow the tub, but somehow, we managed not to.

We went to see the Spooky Puppets Halloween Show II at the Center for Puppetry Arts last night. Wasn’t sure what to expect, but there was beer, wine, and baked goods, adult-themed puppets, and really cute lasses dressed in a red she-devil unitard and black vinyl bat girl ensemble, respectively. Alcohol and puppets and babes! Much fun was had by all. And there was even a short little haunted house walkthru beforehand. Thanks, glenn5 for letting me know about this.

But we forgot to tape Firefly last night. For the folks who saw it, was it any good?

The boys put on their XY geek hats and opened up the computer too. They installed a slave 80 GB hard drive and 128 MB of RAM. Our system is faster, bigger, and they didn’t kill it! Hurray! And the price for computer upgrades has really gone down . . .

We also went to see Lilo and Stitch at the local second run theater. My God it’s funny, and poignant, and sweet. I loved it! And so did the boys so it’s not just me being a girlie-girl. Hobkin’s Godmother has a young skunk that she got at about the same time we got Hobkin. She named hers “Stitch.” A more appropriate name doesn’t exist. If anyone wonders what having a pet skunk is like, think Stitch from Lilo and Stitch. Coming home after the movie, I couldn’t help but check Hobkin’s sides for extra arms.

We have a lot of Halloween candy left over. We only had something like twenty kids come by. Where were they all? Oh well, more candy for us. I’ve been swinging on a sugar buzz for days. *twitch*

Matthew liked my bunny costume. Although every time I sat down, I ended up on my tail. There must be a trick to wearing round little bunny tails.

Happy (belated) Halloween, y’all!