Elemental Magic!

Behold, the cover of the anthology edited by the Mercedes Lackey, in which I have a story (excuse me while I put my head between my knees and beckon for smelling salts):

Elemental Magic: All-New tales of the Elemental Masters will be on sale in early December. My story is called "To Ride the River-Horse."

Ermagerd!

Many things make a post

Note: I wrote this a good three days ago, and then got so busy I forgot to post it. I’ll add an update at the end.

I’ve been terribly busy since I got back from Oregon, coupled with the fact that I fell into a funk because I missed Ken (who took almost a week longer than expected to return), and those two things (business and gloominess) are the main reasons why I stop posting here.

So, inspired by Cherie Priest’s latest post, in which she caught up by doing bullet points, here is my recent bullet-pointed news:

• I’ve been working on a proofreading job that turned out to be more difficult than I expected, both because of the dark subject matter and because the copyeditor, who I’m sure caught many things, didn’t quite have a grasp on commas after introductory phrases.
• I haven’t been writing. This is, no doubt, part of why I’ve been glum and crazy. Once this proofreading job is done, and now that Ken’s home, this should all change. (I do have a copyediting job to dive immediately into, but at least somebody will be here to help deal with the house and cats and errands and whatnot so I have a little more brainpower.)
• All that said, I got my first proof copy (for Waking the Witch), and the thrill of holding that book in my hands was immense and powerful. I’ve already found some errors (on my part), and once I finish this proofreading job, I can proofread the proof and make the changes and then I’ll have my first trade paperback available for sale! I’ve got another one (a collection) winging its way to me, and another collection almost ready to go. Whee! This is fun!
• I’ve been having some minor health issues, but I think they’re sorting themselves out. I hope. Two more doctor’s appointments this month, and then possibly a test after that….
• I have been hard at work on my 1911 dress for our 100^th Anniversary of Our House party (which is actually called 101 Years on the 101, because we didn’t have the party last year because someone almost died and someone else fell apart after nearly two years of stress). Morgana is a saint, and I’m so enjoying the time we’re spending together. I usually wander over there around 11:30, we go out to lunch, we come back and make a pot of tea, and then we get to sewing and getting me in and out of my waist cincher. The pattern is made and the lining is fitted, so next step is to cut out the good taffeta…
• My awesome waist cincher from Corset Story gives me a 35-inch waist, which makes my breasts look enormous, even to me.
• One day, we also rescued a pigeon covered in tar. I now know who to contact in Ventura for injured birds, which is a good thing. Cue Gowan’s “Pigeon” getting stuck in my head.
• Speaking of the party, I ran out of card stock for the invitations and had to order more, oh, and did I mention both of our printers have stopped functioning? Hopefully Ken will get one of them working today. So if you’re wondering why you haven’t received your invitations, blame technology. And save December 1.
• Halloween was a quiet affair this year. Morgana and Brian didn’t have many kids, so we wandered over to Lisa and David’s—they’re in the Historic District, which can get up to 2000 kids. I think they estimated about 800 this year.
• Brian told me he could see the definition in my upper arms, which made me so happy, because I’ve been working very hard on that in my workouts. Although on Friday, my trainer made me do so many squats, my ass is killing me right now and I’m making noises every time I have to stand up or bend over.
• Ken and I are signed up for the Turkey Trot 5K again on Thanksgiving morning. We first ran it last year, 5 months after his accident. We had planned to do more over the year, but things just got busy, so now we’re focusing back on that. My goal is to run the entire thing (no walking). Of course, if we don’t get out and start running three times a week, this isn’t going to happen…
• I’m doing another 6-week fitness challenge. This time, instead of doing through our trainer and health coach, I just announced it and encouraged some like-minded friends to join in. So far, so good.  :-) 

Update:

• The proofreading job is done, and I’m well into the next copyediting job, which I’d like to get done early so I can start the next copyediting job early, and get that one done before we go to NY in December to drive my mom to Myrtle Beach by way of Atlanta to visit my sister. ::deep breath::
• It rained! I was so, so happy. Morgana and I gloated together.
• My 1911 skirt has been cut out of the taffeta, and sewing will commence on the morrow. Also on the morrow, a friend is coming over so we can play with the infrared paint stripper, because I have this dream of refinishing one door in the house before the party.
• All but one party invitation is in the mail. If you haven’t gotten yours, ping me, please! And if you have gotten yours, please RSVP so we know what to tell the caterers.
• We still haven’t been running. Dammit.
• We saw Asia in concert last night, and they were tremendously good, but it was billed as them doing their entire first album from start to finish, and that’s not what they did. I’d been looking forward to that for months, so I was rather disappointed. But they were great.
• Split pea soup in the crockpot is good, and so is Thai soup, and burgers made with grass-fed hormone-free local beef, and fresh shrimp baked with feta.

There’s probably more, but I have to get back to copyediting….