~~ "She has so many aliases, you'd think she was a spy!" ~~

Saturday, February 02, 2008

Chicken...egg...same difference!

Rejection from Abyss & Apex for “A Father’s Blessing,” which they said was “well received here” although ultimately they decided not to take it. Ah well!

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Busy few days. Thursday was Lick-n-Stick (to prep the local SCA newsletter for mailing). Ken and I helped, and then he measured Morgana’s desk because he’s building shelves for her. He wandered off and the rest of us had Healing Circle, during which Morgana worked on my ankle and a lot of goopy dark stuff apparently went “flergowlr”* out of my foot. My ankle did feel significantly better afterwards…

Last night we four went to see National Treasure 2, which I [hearted] almost as much as the first one. Yeah, sure, some pretty big plot holes. But, dudes. Codes, secret passageways, deep dark history, hidden treasure! Nicolas Cage, Ed Harris, Jon Voigt, Harvey Kietel, and Helen Mirren!

::sighs and falls over in blurble of happiness::

After that, Morgana worked on my ankle again, and said there was much less goopy dark stuff. Cool beans. I can almost walk down the stairs normally. Almost. Healing is an annoyingly slow process.

Today I had a phone confab with Teresa to discuss the blanketing of the New York publishing world with OOTFP proposals. I had already assembled an anal-retentive spreadsheet, of course. We have to tweak the query and cover letters, and all will be mailed next week. Forward motion!

This evening Ken’s mom came to visit us, and we went to dinner at Roxsbury Deli, where I decided not to have the matzo ball soup (because I think I’m coming down with a cold) in lieu of a sudden craving for corned beef hash and eggs. (Me: “Chicken soup…eggs…it’s kind of the same thing, isn’t it?”) On the way out we were mesmerized by the delectable pastries in the revolving case, and ended up with a slice of lemon somethingorother (like lemon meringue pie but with cream instead of meringue) and something that was chocolate cake on top and cheesecake on the bottom. We had that ate home with Lady Grey tea. Soooo goooood.

More tomorrow. Right now I’m going to kidnap my beloved so we can watch Torchwood!

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Currently Reading: A Rush of Wings, Adrian Phoenix (fellow OCW-er!)
Lately Listened To: Why are there no Imbolc songs? I’ve been reduced to humming “The Holly and the Ivy” all day, and that’s just not right.
Recently Watched: Torchwood

*Vocalization, and subsequent attempt at translating vocalization to paper, both approximate.

January stats

Welcome to a new month! Here's what January looked like for me:

words written: 13,569
days of writing: 11 out of 31

story submissions: 7
story acceptances: 1
story rejections: 12
stories written: 1 started, not yet completed

novel submissions: 0
novel acceptances: 0
novel rejections: 2 (for two novels)

Lust Bites article written: 1

Comments

I had a good start to January, but for some reason my sprained ankle sucked my brain out, so in the end my word count and days writing count were poor. A short story that’s stressing me out also slowed me down. Since I’m all about focusing on the positive, though, what this says to me is “More words in February! Wooh!”

Editors cleaned out their In Boxes in January, obviously, but I turned around a chunk of the stories. I did trunk one for now as well.

The rejection for Out of the Frying Pan was a blow, but about the best one we could possibly get. We know the book got read, got discussed, was truly liked. That means there’s a publisher out there for whom it’s going to be a great fit.

Goals for February

Word count needs to be higher this month, period. I’d like to do 25,000-30,000 words, primarily to finish Ghosted, but I do have one story to write for the Denise Little workshop, plus I’ll have at least one story to write at the workshop. The four-concerts-in-four-days run will be nonwriting time, but I’ll follow it up immediately with a LARA meeting and writing at Lulu’s afterwards, to get me back in the groove. I’ll also lose a day or two at the end of the month for the workshop, and tomorrow’s pretty much out with brunch with one set of friends and a party at another’s.

I’ve already received my first short story rejection for February, but I know where the story’s going next, so it’ll be mailed soon. I need to finish the DL story ASAP.

Teresa and I had a confab and will be sending out many partials and queries for OOTFP next week.

Lust Bites: Teresa and I have two joint articles slated. (My overall goal is at least one article a month.)

Friday, February 01, 2008

Thursday 13: Thirteen Ways I’m Still the Same As I Was in Junior High

Thirteen Ways I’m Still the Same as I was in Junior High

  1. I’m a writer. I started my first novel in 7th grade, although I’d written other works earlier. I count that year as my official starting point.

  2. I’m best friends with Sarah. We met in 7th grade, and that was the beginning of the end…

  3. I’m an Anglophile, specifically a Welsh-o-phile. :-) I realized recently that it probably started with Lloyd Alexander’s Chronicles of Prydain series, although Narnia helped a lot.

  4. I read and write fantasy. I may write more erotica and romance now, but fantasy’s my first love.

  5. I’m a Styx fan. Although I credit my official fandom as starting a few years later, in high school, when I did start rabidly collecting everything Styx had ever done, I discovered I’d loved them all along, just never hooked up the songs with a particular band.

  6. I watch Battlestar Galactica! Okay, it’s a different version, but still…

  7. I love bad boys. :-) ‘Nuff said.

  8. My favorite color is purple.

  9. I’m obsessed with office supplies, especially pens and notebooks.

  10. I believe in magic, faeries, true love, and lush, flowing fabrics.

  11. I want a house with a secret passageway, dammit!

  12. Pink bedrooms make me twitch. (Alas, I had one then.) Ditto anything with lime green accents.

  13. I’m easily distracted and sometimes don’t finish things. Like lists…

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Alive and kicking

Rejection for the partial of Waking the Witch from Tor. Just kick a girl while she’s down, why don’t you?!

But, also a confirmation of acceptance of “Bathing Beauty” in Rachel Kramer Bussel’s Rubber Sex anthology, so I can’t say that it’s all bad.

It’s got a great Table of Contents, too:

The Dress by Kristina Wright
In a Single Bound by Shanna Germain
Rubber Necking by Alison Tyler
Slicker than Slik by Radclyffe
Stretching Logic by Jean Roberta
Tire Stud by Jeremy Edwards
Justine, in Latex by Lillian Ann Slugocki
Bathing Beauty by Andrea Dale
In The Middle by Jessica Lennox
Lick of Pain by Crystal Barela
How to Liven Up a Boring Party by Teresa Noelle Roberts
Sergeant Pepper by Rakelle Valencia
Tight Squeeze by Rachel Kramer Bussel
Butterfly's Kiss by Thomas S. Roche
Cinema Show by Elizabeth Coldwell
Exchanges by Stella Hunter-Smith
Rubber Party Virgin by Jay Starre
The Balloonatics by Gregory L. Norris
Breathing by Tenille Brown

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We washed all the bedding yesterday and intended to flip the mattress as well, but we, um, never got around to that, and last night after watching some TV and sitting in the hot tub and relaxing afterwards, we were too tired to do it, so we flipped out the sofa and threw sheets down on it and slept in the media room. Hee.

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Currently Reading: A Rush of Wings, Adrian Phoenix (fellow OCW-er!)
Lately Listened To: my massage therapist’s Native American CD
Recently Watched: Michael Palin’s new travel show

Monday, January 28, 2008

Dratted Mercury

Kensington rejected Out of the Frying Pan, which they’ve had for almost a year after requesting the full manuscript less than a week after we mailed the partial, in a long letter about how they loved the writing and loved the book and have no place to put it and were reluctant to let it go.

Frak.

Short story rejections from Æon for “Seeds of Hope” and from Fantasy Magazine for “Matchmaker.”

Okay, but in good news, there was a local Styx show I didn’t have tickets for (they went on sale with no announcement, so by the time I heard, pffft), and I popped a note on the Styxworld board just in case someone might have something vaguely reasonable, and two different friends had single front row tickets near each other. Sheez, how portentous is that? Well, they’re on Tommy’s side, not Lawrence’s, but front-row tickets to a show I didn’t think I’d get to go to is enough for me right now!

This good news is not trumping the novel rejection.

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Check out the Oregon Coast Writers website!

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Four stories in the mail today. I am nothing if not stubborn. I also brainstormed a list of the next publishers to which to send OOTFP, and will do so once Teresa and I confer.

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It was a mostly good but still odd in some ways kind of weekend. Lev & Gayle are visiting Morgana & Brian, so M&B threw a tea party Saturday afternoon for all of us who knew Lev & Gayle Back When (Back When being before they moved to Oregon 14 years ago).

The odder parts were that Mercury going retrograde really did seem to affect communication that day. Several times I said things that were misconstrued, causing people to get mildly testy. Nothing major, but it made me want to slink off hide each time, in part because I didn’t understand how I’d managed to upset the other person. Plus there were several times when I was talking and someone just started talking over me. I know they didn’t realize they were doing it, and I’m not the type to start talking louder or call attention to the issue because I don’t want to embarrass the other person.

Also, the tea was mostly sweets and only a few savories, so even though I ate lunch before I came over, I knew I’d need a decent dinner. I brought up dinner early, but it took a long time to coordinate people (we eventually decided to get take-out Thai, but some people had to spend time commenting on the small print on the Chinese menu before they decided what to order from the Thai menu, etc.) and I started to feel unwell. Unfortunately, when I get that way, I don’t think as coherently, so I couldn’t actually come up with “Hey, Morgana, do have a piece of cheese or something I can nibble on?” I just curled up in a corner and stopped talking so I didn’t snap at anybody, which is what I’m likely to do if my blood sugar is low… (And sweets just make me nauseous in that situation, so Brian’s repeated offering of cookies to everyone didn’t help either! LOL) Eventually food arrived and it was all much better, but I never fully recovered my equilibrium

Of course, then we came home and watched Torchwood and it was all sorts of John Barrowman/James Marsters yummy goodness! And a day that ends with that is certainly not a bad day at all.

Sunday Ken and I were both tired and draggy, although we did manage to do a million loads of laundry. That’s about all I remember. Just being draggy but slooowly getting stuff done.

And that’s pretty much all I remember. Sunday seems like a long time ago…

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Currently Reading: A Rush of Wings, Adrian Phoenix (fellow OCW-er!)
Lately Listened To: for some reason, Tom Petty’s “The Great Wide Open” is stuck in my head
Recently Watched: Alias