Category Archives: Blog

Six Flags Stabbity

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So Six Flags was holding a promo freebie today: free admission between the hours of 6AM to 9AM. Well, apparently every child and their cousin was trying to get in on it *grumble fume*, resulting in heaps o’ chaos and the gates closing at 6, as well as a holy muckup of traffic which impacted my commute to the MARTA station, even though I’m going southbound and Six Flags is west of the perimeter. Huge stretches of 400 whereupon I sat at a complete stop, waiting to creep forward.

Stabbity

   


Writing Stuff

My “Pick Six” interview with ambasadora is now up. Go read, yo!

Received:
– 97-day “beautifully written but . . .” with invite to submit again from Sheila Williams of Asimov’s. Sigh. At least I’m getting personal “no”s from her again.
– 35-day pass, praise, & invite to try again from Dark Recesses with suggestions for other markets to try.
– Contract from Helix for “The Center of the Universe.”

New Words:
– 1300 on a Persian fairy tale re-telling.

Yah, I tabled “Better a Heart of Fire.” I’ve got the writing bug now, but it’s been so long since I was producing things regularly ’cause of the legislative session, I’m rusty on the word cranking routine. Couldn’t seem to muster up the discipline to put words on the page and finish the thing when my momentum flagged. Not an auspicious sign for my post-session novel aspirations.

Also feeling like my prose craft is particularly raw from disuse. To bolster my morale and get back into the fairy tale rhythm, I went back and read over some of the other re-tellings I’ve written. And y’know, they were pretty good. Then I read over my current WiP . . . and it wasn’t.

Morale not so much bolstered as knocked down and kicked in the dirt.

Zokutou word meterZokutou word meter
1,300 / 2,000
(65.0%)

Oakland Cemetery

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The photo shoot at Oakland Cemetery went well. I’ve never been there before, and I was agog at the beauty of it. There were sculptures and a fountain and stained glass windows, bronze urns bigger than me, and beautiful mausoleums fit to make a goth cry.

And the flora! *swoon* There were these huge oak, magnolia, and dogwood trees shading the pathways, and flowers sprouting everywhere perfuming the air. There was also a small, wrought iron gazebo with climbing roses abuzz with bumblebees. Not yellow jackets or wasps, but actual bumblebees–the kind that are as big as my thumb and utterly non-aggressive. We did a few shots in the gazebo and a stray wind knocked one of the bees into my leg; didn’t faze the bee or me. He flew off, I smiled for the camera, unstung.

I’m particularly fond of those kinds of bees, actually. They’re large and fuzzy enough to trigger my “aww, cute!” proclivities. I’ve also got an admittedly cavalier attitude about bees and wasps, which occasionally freaks fosteronfilm out, because I’ve never been stung by one. Pollen collectors and I get along, unlike their blood-drinking brethren, which I kill on sight, as I appear to have a big, blinking neon sign for them which says “Bite Me, I’m YUMMY.” Plus, I’m hypersensitive to their various anticoagulants and venoms. ‘Course, I have no idea whether I’m allergic to bee and wasp stings . . .

Nevertheless, it’s a truism, if I’m outside for long enough, something that I’m allergic to will brush against me, or some blood-thirsty insect will zoom in on me. And, ye verily, I’ve got the red welt on my calf to prove it. The last shot of the day for me was when we were posing around the base of a magnolia tree with lovely ivy creeping around the ground and trunk, and something bit me. I also somehow managed to get a touch of sunburn on the back of my neck, as did dude_the.* But while I understand how dude_the got sunstruck, as his hair is short and off his neck, I’m a bit perplexed as to how I managed the feat, since my hair is well past my shoulders and I’d brought a parasol. And as much as I could, when I was in direct sunlight, I had the thing up. Weird.

Dean, the photographer, is still sorting through the pix, but got me this one as a sneak peek:


Photo by Dean Ansley

Can’t wait to see the rest of them!

* It should go without saying, considering how photosensitive I am, that the parts of me that I could reasonably expect to be exposed to sunlight were liberally coated in industrial-strength, 45 SPF, broad spectrum sunscreen.

   


Writing Stuff

Received:
– Contract from Tekno Books for the electronic rights to “Honor is a Game Mortals Play” (forthcoming in the DAW Books anthology, Heroes In Training). They’re setting up a deal with Sony to sell electronic short fiction online from their website for Sony’s new e-reader device. Tekno also mentioned they’d be willing to consider other stories, which I took as an amazing serendipity, since I was just dwelling upon making some of my previously published fiction available electronically and pondering how to do that. So I fired off an email to the editor/director person listing some of my stories and their publication history to see if he’d be interested in considering including them. He is, with the caveat that Sony has final approval over content. So I’m sending them along and crossing my fingers.

Session ’07, Day 33

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I haven’t seen fosteronfilm and dude_the at all this week. They went to an advance screening of a movie last night, leaving me to come home to, once again, a humanless house. *humph* Fine. Me and the skunk don’t need that pair of slackers anyway.

I’ve got a photo shoot tomorrow for the Girls of Dragon*Con Charity Calendar project at one of Atlanta’s cemeteries. I think I’m going to have to drag both of them along.

   


Writing Stuff

Received:
– Payment from Helix for “Addy in My Mind.” Not pro rates, but the amount exceeded my expectations. Very nice.
– 1-day sale of “The Center of the Universe” to Helix. Publication date/issue TBD. This is the story that was orphaned when the Lesbian Sleuth anthology folded, so I’m well pleased that it was able to find a new home.

Session ’07, Day 32

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As it turns out, Crossover Day wasn’t so bad. I got out at 8ish–well within normal session hours–and it sounds like the latest chamber (the Senate this year) got out at around 10:30. So far, this week has been pretty gentle. And since the legislature adjourns all of next week for Spring Break, I don’t expect I’ll have to work this weekend.

Neat.

I continue to be amused when bills that I edited are deemed newsworthy. This time, it’s SB 43–prohibiting (certain) employers from prohibiting (certain) employees from (lawfully) carrying firearms in their (locked) vehicles–and the AJC‘s Political Insider commentary. *Snerk* Me likie when evil politicians squabble amongst themselves.

dude_the is here. Yay! He went with fosteronfilm to the Atlanta Film Festival volunteer meeting last night, so I came home to a humanless house. Hobkin trundled out to see me, crawled up beside me on the couch, and we both promptly fell asleep until the boys came home.

Despite the relatively easy pace of this week, I’m exhausted.

   


Writing Stuff

The French ‘zine Faeries hasn’t paid me yet for “Of Two Minds in Lanais” that they reprinted last November. There’s often delays in this biz between when I expect to be paid and when I actually am, so I didn’t think much of it initially–especially since this is the third story of mine they’ve published, and the prior two times they paid me without any fuss. But I queried the editor about it two weeks ago and haven’t heard a peep back. It’s making me a bit anxious both in a “why haven’t they replied?” way as well as an “are my emails going astray again?” way. Urk.

Received:
– Note from my Cricket/Cicada editor letting me know that, as I feared, my recent Cicada submission didn’t make it in before the new submissions moratorium, so it’s being bounced back. Pook. But I also got a bit of a status update on how things are going up there in Cricket Country–slow but progressing–and an encouraging nudge to write and submit something to Cricket, which has, ye verily, kicked my motivation to do exactly that into hyperdrive. Pondering. Think think think.
– Galley proofs of “Mistress Fortune Favors the Unlucky” from the editor of Bash Down the Door and Slice Open the Badguy. It’s due to come out next month, and I anticipate many giggle-out-loud moments within its pages.
– 39-day “doesn’t quite meet the needs of our podcast” with a “we look forward to your next” from Pseudopod on a flash reprint. Alas.

Session ’07, Day 30, Crossover Day

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Today is Crossover Day, the deadline for when bills have to pass at least one chamber or be dropped, and also the busiest day of Georgia’s legislative year. Historically, Crossover Day is a midnight+ affair for the legislature and therefore us folks at the Office O’Legislative Counsel. Last year, I believe the House was in session until 1:30AM.

I wore the comfiest work clothes I have, brought a blanket/pillow and toothbrush, and packed an extra 10mg of Adderall (which I haven’t decided whether I should take or not, and I need to soon since it’s an XR).

Urk. I expect my brain will be at half mast come Wednesday.

But, on a happy note, someone brought in a plate of amazing caramel brownies this morning. Brownies and coffee for breakfast, does it get any more decadent? And the attorneys are treating the office to dinner tonight.

When under stress, apply food. Yup.

dude_the is here on a business trip, taking a class. Yay! Although we haven’t seen him yet as, well, he’s taking a class and it’s session. But his class ends on Wednesday, and he’s hanging out through the weekend. Hoping I get to do more than wave to him in passing.

   


Writing Stuff

The novel bug’s been hitting me. Adding details and brainstorm-related particulars to my existing outline and character sketches for the YA novel. Gearing up for a full out effort once the session ends.

Performance anxiety and trepidation is high.

I’m primarily doing research, possible to do between rush bills, at least, and gathering a bit of fodder for hungry lil plot bunnies. My focus is on autism and Asperger’s but while digging around online, I discovered a fascinating condition called hypergraphia, a driving compulsion to write, which I was unfamiliar with before. Speculating whether some particularly prolific writers might have it.

Brains are neat. And weird.

Session ’07, After Day 29, adjourned again

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I wasn’t able to go to the Pirates of the Caribbean screening last Sunday. I had to work. All day.

I got in the office at around 10:15 AM and couldn’t leave until after 7 PM. Bummer. But I knew that playtime would undoubtedly have to be sacrificed to the legislative session going into it, and so far, I’ve already had more actual weekends than I’d expected I would. And I know I’ve had it relatively soft compared to other editors, like poor elemess who had to stay until midnight on Tuesday. Plus, the evil-scary bill I labored over on Sunday, HB 227, actually passed in the House this week.

fosteronfilm is having two wisdom teeth pulled this morning, the poor thing. But it’s high time. One of them broke months ago. Fortunately, the break didn’t expose the nerve, and he wasn’t in pain.

Less fortunately, with the new year, we’d switched dental plans, which also involved acquiring a new dentist, and the one we got (based primarily on the proximity of his office to our house) was not a good fit, being less concerned about the state and welfare of our teeth and more interested in pushing expensive and unnecessary dental procedures–which, ironically, did not include extracting the broken tooth since that apparently wasn’t big ticket enough. So yah, we decided that we wanted a new dentist and had to wait for the insurance folks to approve a switch (the third dentist we’ve had in six months). Then we had to wait for the paperwork to go through so this new dentist could examine Matthew’s tooth and go “yup, that needs to come out, and probably be a good idea to pull that other one too while we’re at it,” get the extraction procedure okayed by the insurance, and then schedule it.

I’m just really, really glad that Matthew wasn’t in any pain. All this waiting, while decidedly annoying, at least wasn’t agonizing.

On the plus side, the extraction procedure is 100% covered. On the minus side, the anesthesia portion is 0% covered. The hubby is opting to have it done under just a local which is much less expensive than a general would’ve been. He’s hella more macho than me; when I had my wisdom teeth out, I insisted they knock me out. But I remain perplexed and indignant than none of the anesthesia is covered. If we couldn’t afford to pay for it out of pocket, would they really have subjected him to having two teeth pulled without any anesthesia?

   


Writing Stuff

I’m either due or past due on responses from several markets. I haven’t felt jonesy for a sale for a while, but I’ve got the writerly jitters good now. I could really use a juicy sale fix. *twitch*

Received:
– Heidi Ruby Miller (ambasadora) asked to interview me for her ongoing “Heidi’s Pick Six” author spotlights. Of course I said “yes.” Mine is slotted to go up next month.

New Words:
– 300 on “Better a Heart of Fire.” As I feared, my momentum is beginning to fizzle. A gooey glob of inspiration hit while I was driving to the MARTA station this morning. But, of course, traffic cops tend to frown at folks typing on laptops while driving, so I refrained from trying to increase my word count while cruising down the freeway. Will try to work on it this weekend.

Zokutou word meterZokutou word meter
2,568 / 3,500
(73.4%)

Session ’07, Final Day of the 2-week Recess

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Things are beginning to ramp up again at work as the legislature gets ready to re-convene on Monday. For a while there, I was actually making it home at a normal time and having evenings with the hubby. Although this two-week recess has pushed session through mid-April, I’ve kind of enjoyed having a mini-break. I was getting frazzled and stressed, and my pile of back-burnered things-to-do was on the verge of achieving sentience and eating my brain. My stress-o-meter is still nudging the red, but I’m pretty confident that a meltdown isn’t imminent.

fosteronfilm got passes from a movie publicity person for a screening of the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie on Sunday that will debut the trailer for the upcoming third movie. They’re encouraging folks to come dressed in pirate gear. He passed the word around to Dragon*Con folks, and it looks likely that there will be a strong D*C pirate contingency. Hope I’ll be able to attend, but I think there’s a decent chance I’ll have to work.

   


Writing Stuff

Managed to plow through a healthy swath of both Tangent and The Town Drunk items. Huzzah.

Received:
– Note from the editors of Aberrant Dreams that they’d like to do a signing for their forthcoming shiny new anthology at Dragon*Con, and would I be able to participate? (It also was an oblique reminder to submit my D*C guest application, which I have now done.) Of course I said yes, and hopefully I sent them in the right direction to get the ball rolling on the coordination thereof.
– Payment from paul_m_jessup for “The Goddess Queen’s Battlefield” forthcoming in issue #2 of GrendelSong.
– Payment from my Writing-world.com editor for my April Writing for Young Readers column, “An Interview with Judy Burke of Highlights for Children.”

New Words:
– 1300 new words on the story, which I’ve subsequently re-titled “Better a Heart of Fire.” I didn’t finish it last weekend. Actually, I barely worked on it last weekend. It felt too much like a holiday having the weekend off, and it felt too much like work adhering rump to chair and cranking out words. We’ll just call that a lapse in writerly discipline and consider me properly chagrined. Been swiping snippets of time–between editing bills, on the train, after dinner–to lay down words. It would behoove me to bring this to zero draft before the session re-convenes next week. Meep.

It’s looking like this is going to exceed my initial word count estimate of 3K, but not by much. I hope. Revising my estimate to 3.5K.

Zokutou word meterZokutou word meter
2,253 / 3,500
(64.4%)

Session ’07, Languishing in Recess

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Saturday night, fosteronfilm and I partook of the excellent hospitality of the Eleys (escapepodcast) in their ongoing “Single Malt Who” shindigs. We watched the season 2 finale of Doctor Who, ate veggie burgers, and sampled scotch. Well, other folks sampled the scotch. I stuck with soda. But I think I’m still zoned from session-related stimuli. My brain’s on perpetual low beam. Sigh.

As advertised, here are some of my favorite pix from the Girls of Dragon*Con charity calendar photo shoot we did at Grant Park:


(All photos by Dean Ansley)

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Session ’07, Still in Recess

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It’s been quieter here at the capitol this last week, and I’ve been getting home earlier. Ironically, fosteronfilm went to an IMAGE salon and an advance screening of The Host this week, and as a result, we haven’t seen much more of each other. Sigh.

   


Writing Stuff

This temporary lull has provided my muse with some slack in the choke hold rein I’ve had clamped on her. I figured that during session, I simply wouldn’t have the time (or energy) to crank out fiction, so I’ve been trying to table all the ideas and suppress the must-write compulsion until I had the leisure to write again.

Well, that didn’t work. A story has been hammering and hammering at me all week. I finally gave in and started it. Gah!

I expect I’ve got this weekend to finish it. Word around the office is that the legislators are scheduled for beaucoup meetings all next week, which probably means beaucoup work for us editors and no time for writing. And they reconvene the week after that, which throws us back into busy-busy-busy-die mode.

How stupid am I to have started a new story? Argh!

Received:
– Contract from Mirrorstone Books for “Princess Bufo marinus, I Call Her Amy.”
– A note from someone who’s read my chapbook vampire stories: “Ascendancy of Blood,” “Inspirations End,” and “Still My Beating Heart” and wanted to read “The Few, the Proud, the Leech Corps.” Yay! Except “Leech Corps” was published in an issue of Oceans of the Mind, which has ceased publication, and that story hasn’t been reprinted in anything (yet). So I said I’d email him a PDF of the story for $1. He agreed and paid, I sent him the PDF, and woohoo, everyone’s happy.

Although it felt a little weird selling my fiction directly to a reader rather than to an editor or publisher. But it got me thinking that I might want to make more of my out-of-print works available like this. I wouldn’t sell anything which is currently in print, as I sure as heck wouldn’t want to compete with the wonderful editors and publishers who’ve bought my stuff. But the out-of-print stuff is another matter, assuming there’s actually a market for it and this wasn’t a one-and-only occurrence–which it may very well be.

New Words:
– Got the interview answers back from the Highlights for Children editor for my Writing for Young Readers column, formatted it, and sent it off to ye olde editor. Huzzah!
– 900 words on the new story, tentatively titled, “Princess Fireheart.” I’m aiming for no more than 3K on this one, and I might be able to keep it at 2Kish. Assuming I have the time to finish it, that is. Stupid muse.