Keeping breathing...

So, as I said to a few friends privately, I feel as though I can breathe again. The family member who is ill has made great strides…it will be a long road, but much of the fear is gone. Yes, it’s a cliché, but it does feel like a weight has lifted.

When you’re worried about someone in the hospital, it consumes you. It’s hard to let go, to think about other things; normal routines seem pointless and difficult. Feeling happiness feels like a betrayal. When you work in a creative field, it’s even harder: You struggle with whether what you’re doing is important or necessary or worthwhile, and gods, it’s so hard to be creative when you’re worried or scared or consumed.

I don’t think I was even aware of the fog ‘til it lifted. I’m sort of stunned by how bright the world is again. And I can really look forward to the things I’m looking forward to:

• Ken’s coming home! I’ll have another session of getting crazy amounts of work done at the airport while waiting for him (so I don’t have to drive there in the dark) on Tuesday, and then he’ll be home!
• Five—count ‘em, five!—Styx shows in a row, starting next week! And for four of them, we’re road-tripping with my friend Sara from Arizona. She’s flying in for show to, and the adventure will culminate in Arizona with the last show.
• A trip to LACMA to see their Fashioning Fashion exhibit.
• Anwyn’s coming to visit!  ::squeebouncity!::
• Nanci & Lenny’s annual awesome Superbowl party. I go for the friends, not for the game (as every year, I have no clue who’s even playing).
• Flying back to GA to visit family—this time, a much more positive and hopeful trip!
• Seeing Dennis De Young perform—it’s been way too long.
• Road-tripping to Oregon with Ken: We’re hauling the two old bikes up there for him and his buddy Ernie to get into selling condition, and I’m going to an Oregon Coast Writers workshop. Four of us ladies are sharing a room, and there will be a major gab-fest the night before the workshop starts!
• Then in March, two more Gowan shows! And this time, Ken’s coming, too! And Nanci and Helen again, and we will meet up with lots of other Gowan fans, and lo, Niagara Falls will never be the same.

Meanwhile, I have a slew of things to do before that Styxgian road trip… Back to work!

Filling the soul, or, a request for a bookplate

So, recently I received a lovely e-mail from someone I guess I should call a fan: She read and enjoyed “Lost and Found” in Lesbian Lust, and wanted to know if I had any signed bookplates.

Here’s the thing. We writers write in a vacuum. We hunch over our computers and sometimes the words flow and other times they’re chiseled out by one-armed dwarves wielding rusty pick-axes. We do the best we can, and when we’re done with our art, it becomes our product, and we fire it out into the world and hope it sells, because that’s what pays the bills.

We also hope that someone reads it, and that some of those people who read it kinda like it.

If someone actually writes a positive review, or asks for an autograph, etc? That just about sends us over the moon. Really. Honest. Wow. That’s what fills the soul.

Anyway, I didn’t have any bookplates. Hadn’t even considered they might be necessary. I went online and found a slew of ones I couldn’t afford (in terms of, I don’t need 500 of them at this time, but when I do, I assume I’ll be able to afford them!), and then I found erinshelby.etsy.com and picked up some lovely affordable customizable ones.

If anyone else wants a signed bookplate (i.e., you’re not local and can’t hand me a book), just let me know and I’ll fire one off to you. That is, if you want an Andrea Dale autograph. I’m still sorting out all the other pseudonyms! (But if you do want a different pseudonym, still let me know, so I know there’s a need for those bookplates!)

Wow.

Lo, some things are spiffy indeed

Despite the chaos I see everywhere and the lists of things to do I have (yes, I have multiple To Do lists…doesn’t everyone?), I feel like I’m slowly chipping away at the mountains and actually accomplishing something.

Still, I’m overdue at mentioning several very spiffy things!

First, Alison Tyler, who’s bought a number of my stories and is an author and editor who just amazes me (she has so much energy!), listed my story “The Queen of Christmas” as one of her favorites when it comes to, as she puts it, “happy porn.” I have to admit, the story makes me giggle every time I re-read it. So, thank you, Alison!

(If you want to read “The Queen of Christmas,” is available as an e-book from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Smashwords, as well as in the Alison-edited anthology Naughty or Nice: Christmas Erotica Stories. Oh, and if you like it? Please leave a review…kthnxbai.)

Second, let me direct you to this fabby review of Orgasmic: Erotica for Women, in which I have two stories, one as Andrea Dale and one as Kendra Wayne. Although neither of my stories is given a shout-out, I’m dead chuffed by the positive review of the anthology overall, because it is, in fact, a great one!

Third, I have spaghetti sauce in the slow cooker, veggies prepped for stir-fry tonight (the aforementioned sauce is for future meals/freezing), all the dishes are done, and Eostre and I had a nice long scritchies-and-purring session. Now I’m off to clean the sewing room and finish up a few projects in there. Later, I plan to finish and short story and get some copyediting done. :-)