Category Archives: Blog

Pain vs Productivity

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Took another tramadol last night and my wingstubs feel better, but I think I have to stop taking them. While I’m not suffering from free-floating irritability this morning, I feel like my brain’s encased in a layer of mush. Adderall and caffeine are barely penetrating it. I simply cannot function like this, and I certainly can’t write.

Gargh.

   


Writing Stuff

Received:
– Edits for “Year of the Fox” from mroctober for So Fey.
– Contrib. copy, at last, of GrendelSong #2. Yay! Most distressingly, the USPS seems to have eaten the first copy that Paul sent, but he was gracious enough to send off another. It’s puuuuurty.
– An email from Ellen Datlow inviting me to submit to the next anthology she and Terri Windling are editing in their “mythic fiction” YA series. Omigod omigod omigod! I had to restrain myself from gushing like a rabid fangirl all over my reply. I’ve got all the anthologies in their Snow White, Blood Red series, and it’s been one of my life’s writerly ambition to have a story published in one of their folklore/fairytale anthologies. *SQUEEEE!*

Now, of course, I have to come up with something worthy of the anthology. Gleep.

New Words/Editing:
– 200 on the Fox Princess novel.

Put down a good character development moment via channeling my grumpy from yesterday, but I’m still stymied on the scene. However, I do think a solution is brewing in my back brain. I’m coming up with bits and pieces of ideas that haven’t yet jelled into something usable, but it’ll all turn out well. How? It’s a mystery.

Zokutou word meterZokutou word meter
15,105 / 40,000
(37.8%)

Club 100 for Writers: 9

Tramadol and me

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I broke down and took a tramadol last night. It took somewhat longer to knock me out than it usually does; I made it all the way through the season finale of House. Makes me wonder if the bottle I’ve got has passed its effective date. ‘Course by the time I started speculating about that, it hit me like a falling anvil, and I went comatose before I could check.

Woke up woozy and irritable this morning. Woozy I expected, but fractious, I didn’t. Struggling not to bite anyone’s head off this morning. The Adderall and coffee are helping to alleviate my foul mood, but I still feel like I’ve got a miffed Elder God on a short rein. Until I can mollify said Elder God, my ability to play well with others is pretty tenuous. I’m trying not to send emails or interact too much with people so I won’t say or send something I’ll regret later. But it’s a little tricky ’cause my swelling “to do” list includes several belated correspondences.

I hate feeling like my emotions are at odds with my intellect. The reasonable, rationale me knows I don’t have any basis to be snarly and cantankerous, but the unthinking, feeling me wants to lash out indiscriminately.

On the plus side, my wingstubs feel better.

   


Writing Stuff

Received:
– Edits for “Princess Bufo marinus, I Call Her Amy” from Mirrorstone Books (via mroctober), including a request to rename it to “Princess Bufo marinus, Also Known as Amy.” I’m inclined to prefer my original title, but I’m pretty bendy when it comes to editorial requests, so I suspect I’ll end up okaying it.

New Words:
– 1150 on the Fox Princess novel.

I think I wrote myself into a corner. The chapter wanted to go a different direction than I’d outlined, and I went with it ’cause I was feeling discontented about the pacing, and this new scene speeds things up nicely. But now my protagonist is facing an adversary I can’t figure out a way for her to either defeat or escape. So now I need to either rewrite the scene and go with my outlined events–and come up with a way to fix the pacing–or think up a plausible solution to her current circumstances. Urg. Thinkthinkthink.

Zokutou word meterZokutou word meter
15,105 / 40,000
(37.8%)

Club 100 for Writers: 8

Skunk on foot

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Wingstubs hurt. Much writing to do. So here’s a picture of Hobkin from last night. He climbed up and flopped his head on my foot:

He stayed like this until my foot and leg fell asleep, and I was forced to move him. I set him at his more customary position at my side, where he was more than happy to resume his nap.

I am naught but a skunk pillow.

   


Writing Stuff

The interview lynnejamneck did with me is now up at Strange Horizons.

Received:
– Request from Amy Boxio-Andrews to interview me for Absolute Write. Of course I said “yes.”

New Words:
– 930 on the Fox Princess novel.

Zokutou word meterZokutou word meter
13,950 / 40,000
(34.9%)

Club 100 for Writers: 7

Memorial Day Weekend: Pirates

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Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End was much fun. We joined a horde of pirates who were helping the theater out by selling movie posters to benefit charity–the same group who fosteronfilm had gotten tickets to for the publicity screening of Pirates of the Caribbean in March (that I couldn’t make ’cause it was in the middle of session).

Captain and crew had asked us along as thanks for that, which was right decent of them. Among the motley crew was pyanfar, so we got a chance to chat with her. Although it was past my bedtime and I get cranky and turn into a pumpkin when I’m tired, so I wasn’t at my best. At least if I growled at someone, it was in good piratey character. Ahhrrr. The cinema people had us pirates in a theater all by ourselves for a special screening. Undoubtedly for the best. Pirates are rowdy, bawdy, and gregarious folk. Don’t want to scare or irk landlubbers who paid good doubloons to be there.

The movie itself was great. The pacing was much better than Dean Man’s Chest. There was swashing, there was buckling, there were stunning costumes for Keira Knightly, fantastic EFX, and a magnificent ship battle at the end. Greatly enjoyed and recommend it. Read fosteronfilm‘s review!

   


Writing Stuff

Wanted to get some good writing done this holiday weekend, and I’ve hauled myself up to my library office most diligently. Go, me.

Although something’s gone awry with my ergonomic set-up, and I can’t figure out how to fix it. My wingstubs have been aching these last couple days. I’d almost managed to put from mind how distressing that pain is and how much it pervades my consciousness when they flare up. It’s a constant ache that shades every moment of my day. I haven’t started popping tramadols yet, but I’m thinking about it. Except I really don’t like pairing tramadol with Adderall; it’s a bit too much of a yo-yo up-down-up-down on the physiology. Wreaks havoc on my productivity, which defeats the purpose of taking the stupid pills in the first place.

Received:
– The galleys from Strange Horizons for the interview lynnejamneck conducted with me. Also word that it’s going up on Monday. Hurray!
– Letter from Cricket that they’ve slated my story, “The Tanuki-Kettle,” for their July ’07 issue. Delighted me. If I do say so myself, this is one of my more charming ones, and I’m verily stoked to see the illustrations.

Also, I’m especially pleased/relieved ’cause I was really hoping they’d schedule another of my stories that they’ve got in inventory for publication in ’07 other than “The Snow Woman’s Daughter” (which was in February’s issue). Last year, they published three of them, but one was for Spider. I’m wondering if they don’t like clumping the same author too many times in a year’s lineup. Or maybe my stories aren’t hitting their themes right. Pondering the vagaries of that end of the publishing biz is probably a good road to a padded cell. I’ll nip that bud and just say “yay!”

New Words:
– 1500 on the Fox Princess novel. I actually hit flow! I haven’t done that in so long, I’d almost forgotten what that feels like, the headspace high of story pouring through fingers and eyes onto the page. Nummy writing goodness. More please.

Zokutou word meterZokutou word meter
13,012 / 40,000
(32.5%)

Club 100 for Writers: 5

Late night pirates, ahhhrrr

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Going to a midnight advance screening of the third Pirates of the Caribbean movie, At World’s End, tonight with fosteronfilm. Yes, in pirate garb. With it clocking in at 2 hours 48 minutes, I expect to be rather bleary-eyed at work tomorrow, but I hope it’ll be worth it. Ahrrrr!

Maybe I’ll take a nap after dinner . . .

   


Writing Stuff

New Words:
– 1250 on the Fox Princess novel. And I’m back on track. Yay!

Zokutou word meterZokutou word meter
11,494 / 40,000
(28.7%)

Club 100 for Writers: 2

icanhascheezburger

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Had a couple good night’s sleep, and I’m recovered from Mobicon. Lots to catch up on, but, as an amusing diversion, here’s a link from elemess that made me squee: icanhascheezburger.com.

   


Writing Stuff

Received:
– Contrib. copy of Bash Down the Door and Slice Open the Badguy. Shiny. Would’ve liked to have gotten it last week, but still. Shiny.

New Words:
– 550 on the Fox Princess novel.

I’m 750 words behind the 2500 words/week goal I set after losing a day of writing from Mobicon. Not stressing; it’s not a major deficit. I can make it up in a day if I focus and hit flow, but I do need to make a push this week to catch up. Being somewhat familiar with the vagaries of my brain, if I let myself lag too far behind, I’ll lose my incentive to maintain the pace, and I really don’t want to risk that hit to my momentum.

I also lost my place again in Club 100, even not counting Friday, as I allow myself holidays and vacations off. But I should’ve gotten something on the page Monday. And yet.

Sigh. I suck.

Zokutou word meterZokutou word meter
10,244 / 40,000
(25.6%)

Club 100 for Writers: 1

Mobicon part II

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Mobicon rawked! I see now why jackzodiac always raves about it. These folks put on a first rate event. I’m low on sleep, and the neurons are verily sluggish, so this will be a cursory convention-in-review. Apologies to all the wonderful folks I will undoubtedly forget to mention.

I was a judge for the costume contest with the lovely, talented, and charming Chase Masterson; her sweetie and director, James Kerwin; and, of course, jackzodiac.

After the contest, before the winners were announced, they had a “7-Minute Costume Contest” whereupon contestants get a bag with a length of material, a roll of duct tape, aluminum foil, and scissors and have to create a costume in seven minutes. They asked if Chase, Davey, and I would like to join the fray. Who in their right mind would refuse the prospect of such silliness? So we had seven minutes to do Davey up as a “Klingon Robin Hood.”


Chase (who is, of course, the Klingon expert) decided that he needed breasts. . . and lipstick. Isn’t Davey pretty?

I was a wee bit trepidatious about the Slave Auction, although I was assured that my participation was optional. The auctioneer, Joe-Bob (Joe-Bill?), was a riot–bawdy and lighthearted–perfect for the event. And he knew how to show off his wares to their best effect. There was topless dancing . . . from the men, including a pair of marines (a matched set!), who demonstrated their physical fitness to the cheering crowd by dropping and doing 20 push-ups, and an enthusiastic young man who exhibited his lap dancing prowess with a lovely volunteer–all to benefit the Bay Area Food Bank. Chase and James also stepped up to the auction block and, after some heated bidding, went for a jaw-dropping $600. And, when Wayne asked me pretty-please to offer myself up for bidding, how could I refuse? A big “thank you!” to Bill, the very generous “master” who “purchased” me for $400(!).

After the auction was the Boobie Brigade’s Dead Debutante Ball. Dancing, drinking, and making merry in the name of charity! Got to chat and catch up a bit with yakdog (of Fantasm/Frolicon) and other convention peeps. I was formally inaugurated into the illustrious Boobie Brigade ranks by the end of the dance.

We did some wandering to room parties afterward, but my feet were hurting so much, the one with the couch seemed the most alluring. Crashed back in our room at around 3AM and set two alarms as fosteronfilm and I both had 10AM panels on Sunday. Oog. But I felt surprisingly well rested by the next morning. Not so much today, though . . .

Major snaps and kudos to Cathy Chandler, the Entertainment Chairperson of Mobicon, for her prowess in herding cats and for making sure all our needs were catered to; Don Schermerhorn and Wayne Hergenroder, for being darlings and inviting us to play at their convention, and the rest of the Directors, Governors, and staff of Mobicon for working so hard to make sure folks had a great time.

More pix: Continue reading →

Mobicon Part I

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I’m at Mobicon! There’s free wifi throughout the hotel. Much happiness.

The drive was pretty easy, thanks in large part to Escape Pod and Pseudopod. Their podcast storytelling goodness is the the best for long car trips.

The convention folks are absolute darlings. I feel feted and catered to. They gave me spiced rum punch. Hooked up with jackzodiac, got my guest schedule (woo, they’re really working me; in addition to my panels, I’m also slated to be a judge at the costume contest, do the Vanna White thing to jackzodiac‘s Pat Sajak for the charity auction, and, erm, the slave auction–not sure at this point if I’m supposed to help conduct it or offer up my person for bidding . . . um), and went out to dinner at the Macaroni Grill with the convention organizers and some guests. And, I’ve already got into a disagreement with Sharon Green on the merits of keeping track of daily word counts in the writing process. Hee!

Busy day ahead of me. Must pour vast quantities of caffeine into my system. Charge!

   


Writing Stuff

I’m bummed that Bash Down the Door and Slice Open the Badguy didn’t make it in time for me to pimp at the convention. I have a guest table and everything to hawk stuff from. Pook.

Received:
– Email from Strange Horizons with edits to approve and a question change query for the interview lynnejamneck conducted with me. I got it while I was a bit tipsy last night so decided to hold off on looking over their questions until my brain was clearer. But they assure me that the interview will go up soon. Yippee skippy!

New Words:
– 500 on the Fox Princess novel. I’m not expecting to get much (any) writing done while I’m at Mobicon.

Zokutou word meterZokutou word meter
9,689 / 40,000
(24.2%)

Club 100 for Writers: 7

Skunk transportation apprehension

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This afternoon, fosteronfilm is having to take Hobkin to his godmom’s (for skunksitting) while I’m at work. Hobkin is not a fan of car rides, and normally skunk transport is a two-human enterprise. Matthew drives, and I hold Hobkin, murmuring reassurances and providing comforting ear skritches. This time, Hobkin will have to be locked away in a carrier.

I’m envisioning a Tasmanian Devil mini-tornado a la Looney Tunes. I’m not sure who to feel sorrier for, husband or skunk!

   


Writing Stuff

The editor I was interviewing for my Writing for Young Readers column, Mark Justice of Story Station, got me his responses lightning-fast, in time to send the interview in before the deadline for my June column and therefore letting me bump the piece I was working on to July. Hurray! That’s a great help in alleviating my May timetable crunch.

Y’know, I thought after the legislative session I’d have so much free time I could put my feet up and chill. So not happening. As fosteronfilm admonished me (with a touch of exasperation), I need to stop deluding myself that I’ll ever have free time again.

Well, at least I’m not bored.

Received:
– Email from IGMS letting me know that the contract and check for “Beauty’s Folly” (slated for their next issue) will be going out next week. Coolness.

New Words:
– 460 on the Fox Princess novel.

It should’ve been more, but I got sidetracked on a tangential research spree. I needed one snippet of detail, but that snippet snowballed into several hours of information gathering and fascinated reading. I’ll undoubtedly use some of what I discovered later in the novel, but I really need to work on curtailing my inquisitiveness so it doesn’t interfere with my productivity quite so much. Agh.

Zokutou word meterZokutou word meter
9,191 / 40,000
(23.0%)

Club 100 for Writers: 6

Need more time!

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I’m a bit flabbergasted that Mobicon is in just two days. I haven’t done any prep or packing yet. Don’t know what to wear, don’t know what to bring, don’t know what to say on my panels. Eek!

   


Writing Stuff

Received:
– A short story request for an anthology that I couldn’t, simply could not turn down. Due date August-ish. Not sure what the secrecy status of this project is, so I’ll leave it at that. I dunno how I’m going to wedge writing a new short story into my schedule, as it will also require some research, but I’m determined to find a way. (Sleep? Who needs sleep?)
– 43-day “The writing in this piece was just lovely, very rich and lush, but . . .” from Strange Horizons with a “looking forward to your next submission.” Snartleblast. A lot.

New Words:
– 300 or so on my June Writing for Young Readers column.
– 275 on the Fox Princess novel. Not a good day for words-on-the-page productivity. But at least those numbers include a chunk of wordage I cut out upon realizing the timing was wrong for that scene.

Zokutou word meterZokutou word meter
8,731 / 40,000
(21.8%)

Club 100 for Writers: 5