Well, that's encouraging!

Words Written: “Behind the Masque,” ~500
Writing Stats: Received payments for “Subtle” (Secret Slaves) and “Busted” (Caught Looking)
Exercise: walking

About an hour and a half before I was set to walk out the door and catch my plane to Portland, I got an e-mail from the assistant to my top choice of agents, asking me to send the first 50 pp. of the manuscript for which I’d sent a query and synopsis almost two months ago! Stop the presses! So it’s printed and I’m slapping stamps on the envelope. Don’t want to wait almost a week and a half to send it…

So, yeah, off to Portland again. Ken left yesterday on the bike and will be there in a few hours; I arrive via plane a bit later. Tomorrow morning, we’re off to the coast for a mini-vacation (the Newport Aquarium and the Tillamook Cheese Factory, among other things!). Sunday afternoon we’ll meet with Kris & Dean and Chris & Steve and the other usual suspects for lunch, and then I’ll toddle off to a beach house with five other writers to embark on a Book-in-a-Week retreat. I’ll walk out of there next Sunday with a completed draft of Designed for Love, come hell or high water. (And, knowing the Oregon Coast, there’s a good chance of high water!)

That’s about it for news. Been catching up on writing and editing since Ken left. I’m mostly packed, except for a few things in the wash, and I need to change my shirt. I won’t have easy Internet access while I’m there—I’ll pop out to the charming Internet café once or twice to drink rose-flavored white tea and do a quick check of e-mail to make sure there are no emergencies, but I probably won’t have time to post here.

See you on the flip side!

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Currently Reading: Mystic and Rider, Sharon Shinn
Lately Listened To: random and various
Recently Watched: Dr Who, CSI

Help!

In a particularly spectacular boneheaded maneuver, I managed to not record the first new Dr. Who episode, although I do have the second one. Since I was to watch them in order...does anyone local possibly still have a copy of "The Christmas Invasion" that I could borrow?

On another note, I managed to buy myself a second copy of Bring It On, the suprisingly funny cheerleader movie starring Kirsten Dunst and (more importantly) Eliza Dushku. (Mmmm, Eliza in a cheerleading outfit...) So, if anyone would like a DVD, I'd be happy to pass it on.

The most wonderful time of the year

Words Written: none recently
Writing Stats: see below
Exercise: yes, but I’m not sharing the details [eg]

Lots of random writing-related stuff going on; I figured it would be easier to list it here than cram it all in above:

• Reviewed proof pages for “Make Me Come at the Ball Game,” to appear in Sex in Public.
  
• Sent ALNM to our editor! Whew!
  
• Two rejections and a sale: as Teresa noted, our Sophie story didn’t make the cut for Iridescence, although we each sold a solo story to that anthology; and I didn’t make it into another anthology, although I got word at the same time that I sold “College Reunion” to the C is for Co-Eds anthology! The editor is still reviewing submissions for D is for Dress-Up. (Yep, it’s probably going to be a full alphabet series.)
  
• Catching up on languishing submissions and getting returned stories back in the mail.
  
• Received comp copy of Caught Looking, in which the Sophie story “Busted” appears.
  

<>-<>-<>

Having a lovely time with Ken, of course, so not a lot of time to post here. Saturday we mostly pottered about and ran a few errands. In the evening, Morgana and Brian came over and we all watched the first Pirates of the Caribbean in preparation for seeing the second one again the following night (only Ken hadn’t seen the new one yet). Sunday, Ken’s mom came for a visit, and we ate lunch at Franky’s Place before wandering around the antique shops in downtown Ventura. Mom bought me a sandwich/cake tea server (not the common two- or three-tier kind, but one that’s hard to describe, and I can’t find a picture of it online! I’ll take a photo at some point.). We met up with M&B and had dinner at Applebee’s (which I thought I didn’t like, but they’ve redeemed themselves. Fresh mozzarella goes a long way to appeasing me.) before Mom headed home and we four went to the movies.

Today, more pottering and errands. Ken bought and installed shelves in the Shire shed; we’ll do the inventory before he leaves. We bought cool Halloween decorations, including a lighted arch and two fence-type pieces and a black feather wreath (I put black feather boa up the banister as garland). And I indulged in some Halloween socks, although really they’re just a purple and black design. I wandered through the store singing “It’s the most wonderful time of the year,” because, let’s face it, Halloween is just way better than Christmas (except for the presents aspect). Oh, and because my writing files are spilling out of one file drawer, we bought a filing cabinet for SCA files (so it can go in the sewing/craft room), which will give me another drawer in the main cabinet. Which will allow me to file month’s worth of stuff that’s in a pile right now…

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Currently Reading: Mystic and Rider, Sharon Shinn
Lately Listened To: Celtic Twilight, Vol. I
Recently Watched: Supernatural, Heroes, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip