Typety typety

Things are going well. For one thing, I have purple hair! Hee!

I’ve finished one story and sent it off for a crit. I’ve also hammered out a rough draft of the RWA proposal (they want an outline, a bio, and the handout, plus we’ve brainstormed an extensive outline of pretty much everything we need to cover). That’s off to Teresa for a review. Both of those are due at the end of the month.

Today I have these goals:

• finish the story from hell and get it out for a crit (DONE!)
  
• get back to work on High Spirits (er. crap.)
  
• do a wee bit of research for a future story (DONE!)
  
• brainstorm the next anthology story (DONE!)
  
• finish the critique of Christine’s novel (done reading, need to write up comments)
  
• write up some questions to ask about a project I’m not quite ready to talk about yet, because it’s still in the “that’s an interesting idea” stage (DONE!)
  

I’m guessing Sarah and I are going to table DFL for a while, so my goals for the rest of the year have changed slightly:

• finish High Spirits by the end of November.
  
• edit An Ever-Turning Wheel by the end of December.
  
• write 11 anthology stories (subject to minor change—I may choose not to hit one or two of the anthos; I also wouldn’t be surprised if more cropped up).
  

In other writing-related news, rejection from Orson Scott Card’s Medicine Show for “Soulsearching.” [pout] It’s already back out to Clockwork Phoenix, so there.

<>-<>-<>

I went to the gym on Wednesday and worked upper body and back and some abs, and did 30 min on the elliptical. Go me! Yesterday I would’ve gone to the gym except I sat around waiting for four hours for the tree guy to come and look at the three eucalyptus trees that are growing back despite the fact that we paid them to grind the stumps. He didn’t appear, or call, and lo, I am grumpy.

Today I didn’t go to the gym because the cleaning lady was here for most of the day (she generally arrives before I leave for my chiro appt) and then I had a massage. A gooood and most painful massage. I did make some phone calls, but left messages, and paid bills, and ran a few quick errands. (The milk had gone bad. I couldn’t have my morning tea. I was devastated.)

Tomorrow I’d like to make it to the gym, but it seems unlikely unless I wake up really early. I have to go to Costco (ugh, on a Saturday—but Morgana requested a tub of mozzarella balls for the party), and I have writing to do, and I’m going to help Morgana with more party prep. I really hope I don’t need a new black thong for my outfit, because I seriously doubt I’ll have time to get one. Oh, crap, I think I need decorating wire, too. Nerts. Anyway, and then there will be party!

<>-<>-<>

So I’m sitting here working on the story from hell, and I realized I needed music. iTunes was already open, and when I clicked on it, I discovered the soundtrack for Chess was highlighted. The story from hell is also set in Eastern Europe. How weirdly appropriate!

Of course, this now means that I keep stopping to sing along at the top of my lungs and spin around in my chair. Not conducive to massive amounts of writing, I fear.

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Currently Reading: Night Rising, Chris Marie Green
Lately Listened To: Chess soundtrack
Recently Watched: Without a Trace

The 10 Most Terrifyingly Inspirational '80s Songs

...can be found here.

I laughed so hard, I almost snorted sushi up my nose.

Damn, I miss the 80s!

Thursday Thirteen

Thirteen Things I Love About Halloween:

1. Rereading scary books, like The House With the Clock in Its Walls by John Bellairs, which terrified me as a kid.

2. Costumes! More excuses to dress up (and not have people look at you funny)!

3. The photography of Simon Marsden.

4. Decorating! Even though I’m not really doing any this year, I had a blast helping Morgana. A corollary to this is shopping for more decorations!

5. My Goth stuff doesn’t look out of place.

6. I’m not a big candy person, but I’m happy it’s an excuse for everyone who is, to pig out. And I have in fact been known to get absolutely bizarre under the influence of candy corn.

7. It’s a time to honor and remember those who have gone on before us. I often think of my grandparents, aunt and uncle, etc., but this is a chance to sit and reflect on what they’ve passed on to me.

8. As much as I get grumpy about the older kids who don’t bother with a real costume and just expect candy, I just adore seeing the little kids all dressed up and nearly speechless with excitement.

9. I get to tell the story of my worst Halloween ever, when my sister dressed me as a dice and I spent the entire night in fear of being dropped on my head. (Apologies to my mother, whom I blamed the costume on for years.)

10. I get to tell the story about how every year, I’d bite the white part off the top of a candy corn, hold it out in my palm, and say “Mom, I broke a tooth!”—and every single year she would believe me.

11. An excuse to watch Practical Magic, one of my favorite movies!

12. Releasing my inner purple:


13. It’s a time for analyzing the past year, looking ahead to the next, and celebrating the Turning of the Wheel. Happy New Year, everyone!

Press Release: Hide and Seek

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Ego, you go, we all go

I’m about 2K into a new story that I’m having so much fun with. The narrator’s voice just came right to me, which is always a joy. I like her. I may have to use her again. The funniest thing about the story is that every so often I think, “…and then I have to write a sex scene,” at which point I remember that this isn’t for an erotica anthology. Heh. It’s been awhile!

I received my comp copies of Best Lesbian Love Stories: Summer Flings, which contains my story “In Flight.” It was inspired by the day-long falconry course I took in Wales. I did not meet the woman in the story there, though. Then again, I don’t have an ex-girlfriend who screwed me over and left me bitter and untrusting, either! Anyway, the cover is very pretty.

Unfortunately, my ego shelf (the bookshelf with all my publications) is full! This is a huge exciting milestone, yes, but it also means I have to rearrange all the books in the rest of the shelves (or shove the mystery books down at the bottom of the romance bookcase, which would be easier…). In the process, I can start cataloguing all the fiction at Librarything. Ack! Noooo!

(This project is reminding me how many books I have to read. Beyond the ones in the TBR bookcase. The nonfiction ones. Meep.)

What this house lacks is a comfy sofa on which to curl up (or sprawl) and read. Our living room furniture fits the style of the house (although we want more of a Victorian look in there rather than a Craftsman look. But the furniture was cheap and we found it at a time when we needed it.), and the media room sofa is incredibly comfy to sleep on but not as comfy to sit on. But we need a certain type of sleeper sofa in there to fit the space. We found a possible replacement in a catalogue, but I’m loathe to order large furniture without getting to test it first.

I didn’t go to dance class tonight, because of the Santa Anas and the ash in the air. Just running a few errands this morning resulted in nasty stuff under my contacts, so I really wasn’t up to walking 0.7 miles each way. (I did pop over to Morgana and Brian’s to spend some quality time with Patches, who misses Her People, though.) Poop.

More stats: 14 days of 100 for 100 (my highest count was 41, but then we went to CCR and I was distracted…), but only 4 days of 500 for 50. That one’s harder to maintain. If I have a slow day, I can squeeze out my 100 words, but 500 takes more brain power. Then again, it’s my job to squeeze out words. Most days I do a lot more than 500, mind you…

Other stats from earlier this week that I forgot to post: Novella (“Hidden Treasure,” which isn’t a great title, but it’s all we could come up with) is off to first readers. Monday night I wrote up notes on the new story and got started on it, and last night I wrote over 1K on it. I’ll finish it up today. I’ve also updated my MySpace friends list (over 160 friends! I feel so popular!) and signed and enveloped two books that people won as prizes. Oh, and received and reviewed proofs for “Proof of Devotion,” which will appear in the forthcoming Fabulous Whitby anthology.

A couple of rejections, and two acceptances from the marvelous Alison Tyler for two different flash fiction anthos (pending publisher approval).

Okay, according to my list thus far, I have 11 stories to write for anthologies by the end of the year. One or two may be iffy (i.e., does the theme really speak to me?) but we’ll call that the goal for now. Two stories are in progress. I’d like to get the ones due by the end of November done by the end of October, which will leave six stories due by middle or end of December.

Anybody who tells you that you don’t need math to be a writer, laugh in their face. Just don’t tell ‘em I sent you.

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Currently Reading: Night Rising, Chris Marie Green
Lately Listened To: Bonnie Tyler’s “I Need a Hero” is stuck in my head! Ack!
Recently Watched: CSI: Miami

Bedamned

Damn you, LibraryThing! [shakes fist]

(And drat you, Morgana! I blame you.)

(I remember when I had a life.)

Enflamed

Weird day. There are terrible fires in Malibu (update: and many other places), and we have fierce awful winds (50-60 mph) that have been raging since last night. As a result, by midday the sky was orange-grey and dark as early evening, the sun gleaming weirdly red through the haze. The upstairs office window isn’t sealed well (termite damage on a house almost 100 years old) and there’s ash on my desk. Apparently the back door isn’t sealed well, either, because there’s ash all over the dryer. The house smells like smoke, and I’ve had a low-grade headache and gritty eyes all day, killing my concentration. Worse, there are people in Malibu who’ve lost their homes. Pepperdine University is threatened.

I huddled inside and critted a friend’s novel and watched a little TV and started work on a new short story and took a bath.

Ken got home from a rally this weekend, slept, and turned around to head north for two weeks’ worth of work, another reason why I’m out of sorts. He’ll be back for the Shaw Blades shows in November, then has to go up for one more week; I may go with him if time and schedules and finances permit.

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Currently Reading: Night Rising, Chris Marie Green
Lately Listened To: Mother Earth, Within Temptation
Recently Watched: Graham Norton