Dazed and confused

My brain seems to have gone walkabout, except for short stretches of time. Sigh. I blame this Mercury-going-retrograde thing, for want of a better victim.

Tuesday morning I took Eostre to the posh vet for a recheck. Her values were still up, and although she didn’t appear to be dehydrated, there was something else that showed up that normally does if a cat is dehydrated. So, now she’s on three medications—along with the first two (each once a day, although one of those is ¾ of a pill, so I have to give her a half and then a quarter), the third is three times a day. Worse, she’s now getting subcu fluids twice a day.

Grimoire handled the subcu fluids well. He loves sitting on people’s laps, so the lap time and scritchies often made him purr, even when the needle was in. Eostre, on the other hand, likes to be near you. Maybe touching you with one paw. No laps, no real cuddling. So it’s already A Bad Thing, and Then There is the Needle and the Fluids. She’s gotten a bit better, but there have been times when I’ve been reduced to tears afterwards. :-(

Anyway, Ken arrived home Tuesday afternoon, and there was much rejoicing. Morgana and Brian invited us over for dinner, and then we hung out at Textile Guild. Lots of people there, and it was great to just hang out with friends. I feel blessed by all of them.

What did we do Wednesday? I know in the afternoon we went up the hill to drop off the bike Ken borrowed at the dealer (he used the wheels and carried the final drive in case of his own failing during the rally) and pick up a new laptop charger for him. And since we were in Thousand Oaks, of course we had to have dinner at Cho Cho San. Mmmm, suuuushi!

Thursday we were very good and went to the local Farmer’s Market (two blocks away) and stocked up on yummy fresh things:

• green grapes
• small watermelon
• cantaloupe
• strawberries
• broccoli
• salad greens mix
• green onions
• little yellow tomatoes
• Japanese cucumbers
• corn on the cob
• fresh tamales (two beef, two chicken, two Jack cheese-and-chili)—they were supper tonight along with the corn and some Spanish rice I whipped up. Nom!

We also went grocery shopping and have food for the next few days. We forgot to factor in that Ken will be leaving sometime Sunday to ride to Colorado to return that borrowed bike. Oops! Well, some of it will keep.

We were going to go to the movies that afternoon, but I was feeling all out of sorts because I wasn’t getting as much work done as I needed to, so I sat at my writing computer until my eyes bled (at least, that’s what it felt like). Mercury, retrograde, ptui.

I went thrifting with Morgana this afternoon, and lo, our thrifting fu was mighty! Actually, mine was okay, but hers was definitely mighty! I came away with a hat (to become a steampunk hat), a black lace scarf (for the veil of the hat), a couple pieces of antique linen, a couple of Halloween decorations, and some magazine boxes (to split with Morgana). I also found a fantastic wing chair for $10 that Ken and I plan to pick up tomorrow. And possible a filing cabinet for the sewing room. Need to double-check that.

Huh. I was ready to fall over at 8:30 tonight, and somehow it’s almost 11 now. WTF? ‘kay, I’m outta here. Tomorrow is Morgana’s birthday tea in Santa Monica, and it would behoove me to get up at a decent hour and get some writing done before we leave…

In the Flesh write-up

The write-up of last month's In the Flesh LA reading has been posted. There's even a picture of Sophie (well, kinda) and a couple of me as well. Enjoy!

Adventures in Spokane

I am such a dork! First I thought the restaurants at GEG were before the security checkpoint, so Ken came to the airport to have lunch with me before I flew out. Nope. We made do with a coffee kiosk that had sandwiches. I wasn’t hungry yet, so I just bought a mocha for now and a sandwich and water for later.

Water. Before the security checkpoint. Doi! Hard to believe I fly an average of once a month. It broke my heart to leave an unopened bottle behind, but what can I do? I firmly believe TSA is getting kickbacks from the bottled water companies for this ridiculousness.

~ ~ ~

Other than that, a wonderful weekend! I got to the hotel Thursday and met up with our friends Ernie and Pauline, who plied me with wine in the hotel bar before we went our separate ways. I checked Ken’s SPOT tracker and figured out when he’d be in, then set the alarm for 6. (Ugh.) The three of us were outside in our Team Meese shirts to see him swoop up to the finish/check-in at 6:59 a.m., squeaking in right before the penalty period started. Whoo! Ernie and I both got some good pictures that I’ll upload soon. Some riders arrived looking completely knackered and zombie-like, but Ken had a huge smile on his face.

After he went through his paperwork and got scored, he was ready for a nap, so I settled into the hotel atrium, caught up on e-mail as best I could (the wireless was slooooow), and got some work done. Then it was time for pre-banquet drinks, at which Ken was pulled into a room with nine other riders… So yeah, we knew going in that he’d made the top ten. Just didn’t know where yet.

Our friend Margaret also finished, despite losing two days (!) to a bike problem. She thought she was out, but then she got the bike fixed and she managed to finish. (You have to hit a minimum number of points to finish; it’s not enough to just hit the checkpoints. About 1/3 of the starting riders didn’t officially finish.)

Have I mentioned I’m so proud of Ken! ::beam::

After the banquet I hung out with Ernie and Pauline more while Ken had his picture taken and was congratulated a million times. We were both still exhausted, though, so it was still kind of an early night. Also, he had a 7:30 a.m. appt to be interviewed for the DVD.

I slept in a little longer, then met him and Ernie and Pauline for breakfast. They headed out after that, and Ken and I headed to the nearby Riverfront Park, a lovely large shaded green park along the river. (Hence its name.) This weekend was the big annual Pig Out in the Park frenzy, with about 60 food vendors, some merchants, carnival rides, etc.

We wandered through and found the gondola ride, which took us over the Spokane Falls and back (and gave us some smooching time :-) ). Then we left the park on the other side to visit the historic Davenport Hotel, built in 1914. The Hall of the Doges ballroom, inspired by the Doge’s Palace in Venice, was gorgeous! We had a great time wandering around and looking at all the historic photos, too.

Back in the park, we grabbed some food (soba noodles and fresh veggies for me, a slice of pizza for Ken, and chocolate-dipped cheesecake on a stick to share), then rode the historic Looff Carousel.

After that, we were wiped—plus it had gotten pretty hot—so after swinging back through the merchants so I could pick up a couple of holiday presents, we headed back to the hotel, changed into our suits, and hit the outdoor pool, which had a fun slide and a waterfall to plash under. We soaked in the indoor jacuzzi (where we ran into other IBR folks) before going back to the room and collapsing for a while. We’d toyed with going back into town and having fondue for dinner, but neither of us had the energy or inclination. So we hit the hotel restaurant, where he had fish and chips (and was a heathen because he put ketchup on them!) and I had an amazing pesto scampi ravioli to die for.

Back in the room, Ken fell asleep at 7:30 and was out for 12 hours. :-) I stayed up for awhile catching up on blogs and Twitter and Facebook, since I simply didn’t have the brain power to write. (I thought about it, though!) I still fell over pretty early (for me), though. It was nice to get a full night’s sleep—haven’t done that in a long time.

~ ~ ~

Is it wrong that I just correctly answered a history trivia question on the plane because of a Sting song?

Who can resist a Labor Day sale?

Phaze Books, which published some of the Coming Together anthologies I've contributed to, is having a sale this weekend. If nothing else, please consider buying one of the Coming Together volumes, as all the money goes to charity (a different charity for each book):

Coming Together: Against the Odds containing "Always a Bridesmaid" (benefits Autism Speaks)

Coming Together: At Last containing "Just Be" (benefits Amnesty International)

Also, my fabby coauthor Teresa Noelle Roberts has several novellas available at Phaze as well. So stock up during this great sale! Buy, buy, buy ::advertising voice echoes away::

Top Ten Podium Finish BooYEAH!

9th place 9th place 9th place That's what I'm talking about!

::shakin' the pompoms::

(You can congratulate him at ken.meese AT mac.com, or text him. It'll mean the world to him!)

Trying to keep up

IBR Update: This man is going to be the death of me.

Yesterday morning, he got a new back tire in Winnipeg (having already gone through the back tire he put on in Santa Ana on Sunday) and headed west through Canada. He was feeling great; he was ahead of schedule and felt like he had a strong route.

Around 5:30 p.m., I’d noticed on his tracking page that he hadn’t moved recently. He’d sort of been pinging around in the same area. I thought maybe he’d been to a bonus location and then gotten food or ran some errands. I figured once I finished whatever I was working on, I’d give him a call…but he called me. When I asked him how he was, he sounded resigned when he said “Not good.”

The bike was broken. He was pretty sure it was the drive shaft. (To which I replied, “So you don’t want me singing ‘You All Everybody’ anytime soon?”) The nearest dealer was back in Winnepeg. He was looking at buying a cheap bike to finish the rally, although it would mean he’d get only 50% of his total points for switching bikes partway through.

I was devastated. He sounded like he was handling it better than I was!

About four hours later, he called again. He’d ended up borrowing a bike from the friend of a guy who’d stopped to help him (renting it, really, for a fee, plus he was leaving his bike there) and had started back on his way. About 20 km out of town, however, he started second-guessing himself. Maybe it had to do with the shifter (I think), which had broken several times recently. (Don’t quote me on this; I don’t understand any of it!)

So he went back. One of the guys had tools in his truck. The bolted the shifter back on (or whatever), and Ken turned back around and headed out again.

He won’t be able to hit about 10,000 points worth of bonuses, but he’ll still make a solid finish and be able to claim 100% of his points.

I’m en route to Spokane now (LAX to SLC to GEG), but he probably won’t arrive until the wee hours. I don’t believe SLC has wireless access, so I expect I won’t be able to check his progress ‘til I get to the hotel.

Of course, I won’t be able to post this until then, either…

~ ~ ~

Written at LAX: Ha ha ha! They finished cleaning the first class cabin so they said those people could board. Of course other people rushed up there, and now they’re standing there looking like the goobers they are.

~ ~ ~

The plane has individual screens and there are even game options! I’m playing a trivia game. I’m currently winning. I guess well. :-) I also lied about my name. For the purposes of this flight, I’m Loreli (there wasn’t room for the final “e”).

~ ~ ~

Free wifi in SLC, FTW! And a plug. I’m very impressed with this airport. Which leads me to…

~ ~ ~

IBR Update: He’s heading south out of Edmonton, BC, which is about 11 hours from Spokane. So, yeah, wee hours.

It's a mystery

So, last night someone called me twice. Normally I don’t answer if the person’s not in my phone, but I was waiting around for Ken to finish changing the tires on his bike so I could head home (as I was taking the old tires with me). I didn’t really register where the number was from.

Both calls sounded like they were coming from concerts. It’s a silly ritual we have: if someone isn’t at a Styx show, someone there calls them, ideally during their favorite song. (It’s funny when I’m at a show on the East Coast and have to call a million people I normally go to shows with!) The first call was a little longer, but I still couldn’t quite make out the song. It got cut off, and a moment later the same person called again. I couldn’t make out that one, either, before it was cut off.

Then I noticed that it had been an Oxnard number. I don’t know anyone in Oxnard who might’ve gone to any shows, Styx or not. Reverse lookup only tells me that it was a cell phone.

Was it you? Did you call me? Where were you calling me from? ‘Fess up!

If it's Saturday, we must be in...?

IBR Update: Well, crap. Both of Ken’s GPSs have crapped out. On one, the touch screen really wasn’t working already, but he used it as a backup/rerouting machine while the other had his main planned route with all the bonus locations he planned to hit. The latter one apparently went kablooey. So he bought a cheap one at Walmart. The upshot is that he’ll have to plan a route and stick to it, as opposed to making some changes/new decisions based on how things are progressing. Which, alas, is where he really shines.

~ ~ ~

The other day the clerk in Trader Joe’s asked me if I had any plans for the weekend. I stared at him blankly. What is this “weekend” you speak of? I work most days, taking days off when something specific is happening. The fact is, today is the first day all week that I have had things hard scheduled (other than Textile Guild on Tuesday night).

First I went to Elizabeth’s with a bunch of stuff for her to sell on eBay (I’ll be making garb for her son in exchange). Then I had a confab with Teresa. In a few minutes I’m off to the vet to pick up Eostre.

Then tomorrow is the IBR checkpoint in Santa Ana, and my only hope is that Ken arrives early enough that I can give him all his stuff (tires, food, etc.) and still get home before it gets dark. Originally I planned to stay the night at his mom’s if it got late, but it looks like I’ll need to be home to give Eostre subcu fluids…

(Oh, and I still have a zombie eye)

So, on Wednesday night, Eostre apparently decided that the several thousand dollars we’ve spent on Grimoire this year* made her feel left out, and she made clear her need to visit the ER vet. Thankfully Morgana was home and free so I didn’t have to navigate the streets at night (which I would have done if I’d had to, but the stress of driving when I’m blinded by the halos of oncoming headlights and street lights on top of the stress of having a sick cat is less than optimal).

To keep the story short: Her creatine levels were elevated, indicating possible kidney disease, so they’ve been giving her subcu fluids and antibiotics and whatnot. The ultrasound of her kidneys came back normal (normal to the point of looking better than the kidneys of a cat her age should even look, because she is a mutant, I tell you), which means if it is kidney disease, we’ve caught it at the very beginning. As of today, they’ve confirmed she also has a urinary tract infection, poor thing, so they’re sorting that out as well. Hopefully she’ll be able to come home tomorrow (her creatine and other levels are going down, but they’d like to get them all the way down).

I visited her today, and she was delighted to see me; wouldn’t purr but demanded scritchies until the air was clouded with white fur. She’s been on a hunger strike, but she ate a bit when I asked her to, so that was good. The vets were somewhat amused by how adorable she was, because apparently when I’m not there, she turns into the Tasmanian Devil and attempts to claw people’s faces off. She can be a bit…feisty. :-)

So, I’m hoping it’s just an infection and not Chronic Renal Failure, but even if it is CRF, most cats can live comfortably for years under proper supervision. Which would probably mean that now each cat would be on his/her own separate expensive special food, and they’ll have to be separated at meal times. What joy.

~ ~ ~

Tuesday I toddled off to Textile Guild and worked on a couple of peplos and hemmed a linen hankie to embroider. I’ve been struck with the desire to finish a bunch of little handwork projects in various stages of completion, and that was especially nice when I was recovering from the food poisoning. (Relatively simple fiddly things to do with my hands while watching hours of TV.)

~ ~ ~

Yesterday was full of errands, some for things to bring Ken at the checkpoint on Sunday. However, bleah, it’s too hot to run errands. In fact, the heat is making me want to do nothing more than flop on the sofa and read, which is a problem when I have things like, oh, deadlines to deal with. Sigh.

Speaking of deadlines, now I must get back to work.

~ ~ ~

IBR Update: The first checkpoint was in St. Charles, IL, on Wednesday, and at that point Ken was in the 38th position (out of 101 riders). His extra fuel cell’s gauge has been a little wonky, and yesterday he ran out of gas 1.5 miles from the town he was planning to get gas in. Another rider he knows actually went into town to get him gas. (They’re pretty much expected to stop for one another if there’s an emergency, so it’s especially wonderful that this guy took precious time out of his rally schedule to help Ken. Hail chivalry!)

In fact, Ken says one of the nicest things about the IBR is the camaraderie. There’s something about riding along some random highway, he says, and seeing one of the other competitors—there’s a connection there, you know? Very cool.

----
*A few months of thinking he had cancer, then a little while of exploring pancreatitis and parathyroid problems and whatnot, to then conclude that he just was going to produce too much calcium and we had to give him subcutaneous fluids every other day or so, until he finally spontaneously just got better. On his own. Bastard. (She says affectionately.)

Too long to tweet

I keep thinking of things to update on Facebook and Twitter, but all of them are too long. Meanwhile, the journal languishes. If I only had a brain…

Okay, first the stuff that those of you not on Facebook and Twitter didn’t get.

Thursday night I decanted the herbal vinegars I made in July at our Herbal Guild meeting. One is a champagne vinegar infused with lemony things: lemon zest, lemon verbena, lemon thyme, that sort of thing. (I don’t have the recipes with me, and I know we were out of one ingredient but substituted another.) The other is a red wine vinegar infused with garlic, red peppers, cilantro, and I think green onions. That one is especially nice! Now I want to make Chinese food!

I also hung out with Morgana and saw their pictures from Faerieworlds. Sigh. I wish we could’ve gone, but at the same time, I’m glad I didn’t have to deal with the 100°+ temps.

I had the opportunity to hang out with Christine on Friday, and I couldn’t pass up that! We had lunch at Macaroni Grill, then worked at Barnes & Noble for a few hours. I did some research so I could finish up my proposal for Seasoned With Danger and got some work done on OOTFP.

That night our friend Lareej had an apartment-warming party; I got a ride with Morgana and Brian. Although her apartment is tiny, Lareej has amazing thrift-store fu as well as amazing decorating fu, and the place is lovely. She had masses of food, too (including a variety of cheeses she obtained after asking my advice, because lo, I am the Demigoddess of Cheese). Alas, we had to leave early, because we all had to get up early for Crown Tournament the next day. Lareej was riding with Ismay and Alexander (leaving at 5 a.m.), and I was originally going with them, but I ditched them to ride with Morgana and Thomasina (leaving at 7 a.m.). You can see why.

Crown was hot and muggy, but was worth the trip to be there when Alexander was invited to join the Order of the Pelican. We ended up ditching the event early because of the weather, though, and Alexander joined us for the ride home. We stopped at a dairy tourist trip that boasted a gazillion types of cheese as well as ice cream; in fact they had a few kinds of cheese (the sage cheddar was quite nice) and Dreyer’s ice cream, but the ice cream was worth it, really. We later stopped at Claim Jumper for dinner before heading home and collapsing.

Alas, it was not to be a good night for me. I ended up with a migraine (or at least a very bad headache; I can’t always tell the difference) and food poisoning. So I spent yesterday very quietly and gently watching movies and napping for the most part. My headache went away by early evening, but came back full force during the night. I went to the chiropractor today and she put me to rights; let’s just hope it was enough! She also worked on my middle back (which I strained during the yarking), commiserated with me over my demon eye (I burst blood vessels during the yarking), and helped me figure out the culprit of the food poisoning: the incredibly yummy salad from Macaroni Grill. Because, you see, it was spinach, and I’d tucked the leftovers in my computer bag while working with Christine at B&N, and then I’d taken it with me for lunch at Crown.

I’ve kept things pretty quiet today, but there was stuff I had to do, like clean the cat boxes and tidy the kitchen and whatnot, which has pretty much wiped me out. I’m planning an early night, perhaps after a nice hot bath. Maybe a little more TV and handwork projects (I’m in a finish-little-projects mode, which is nice.).

Well, it’s taken me several hours to write this, so I suppose I should post it and move on. But before I forget…

IBR Update: Ken just called (5 p.m.) to say he’s doing great and getting lots of points. :-) He’s in Florida, BTW. He has to be in Illinois on Wednesday…

---

Currently Reading: Flora Segunda, Ysabeau Wilce (just finished); The Secret Life of Sparrow Delaney, Suzanne Harper (about to start)
Lately Listened To: Lullagoodbye, Taylor Mills
Recently Watched: Boston Legal; Hard to Hold

And so it begins!

IBR update: Ken's plotted his route and is getting a good night's sleep before tomorrow's start. Lots of pictures of him here.

I <3 my editor

Alison Tyler namechecks me in her blog: "And talk about Christmas in July. I mean, August. Whatever month it is, "The Queen of Christmas" by Andrea Dale gets me every fucking time." (Follow the link on her name to the blog entry in question, which includes an excerpt.)

[Warning: Her blog is utterly delectable, but NSFW. Unless you work in an incredibly nifty place.]

An open letter to the Universe

Dear Universe,

You have a sick sense of humor, getting me sick right before Ken leaves for three weeks.

But more importantly—no, pay attention here, I’m talking to you—if you get Ken sick while he’s on the rally, somebody will be in a world of hurt, and that world of hurt has your name on it.

I don’t know how I’m going to put you, Universe, in a world of hurt, but believe me, I’ll figure it out. I’m stubborn that way.

Thank you. That is all. Carry on.

Oops, I'm doing it again...

So, last month I had an absolute blast reading my story “Fanning the Flames” at In the Flesh: LA in Hollywood. So much so, In fact, that I’m doing it again…

See, well before last month’s reading, I agreed to be part of a reading tour for three anthologies, two of which I have stories in (and Teresa and I have a Sophie story in one of them as well). They intially didn’t plan to have the Los Angeles stop at Hustler Hollywood, but it just ended up shaking out that way, including being on the In the Flesh night. I’ll be reading part of my story “Queens Up” from Lesbian Cowboys: Erotic Adventures.

To add to the fun, In the Flesh always has a phone-in reader, and this time it's going to be my very own co-author and dear friend Teresa, reading our Sophie Mouette story "On Display" from Where the Girls Are: Urban Lesbian Erotica!

Here’s the info:

When: Wednesday, August 12, 8 p.m.

Where: Hustler Hollywood, 8920 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069, 310-860-9009

What: In the Flesh: LA is the West coast version of the acclaimed In The Flesh reading series founded by Rachel Kramer Bussel, and “features the city's best journalists, authors, scriptwriters and more offering their torrid tales for your entertainment and titillation.”

I want to thank all my friends who turned out for last month’s reading—I can’t tell you how much it helped to look out and see familiar faces! I hope some of you can make it this month. (Yeah, I know it’s Hollywood in the middle of the work week—I wish I could do something about that!)

Further encouragement: there’s free underground parking on-site, complimentary snacks and desserts, and the chance to win a goodie bag of prizes! (My friend Tom won a goodie bag in July!) Hustler Hollywood is a clean, bright, inviting store with a café, lots of books and t-shirts, and a fantastic, fun, positive atmosphere.

If you have any questions about the reading, feel free to e-mail me at cyvarwydd@mac.com. Wish me luck!

A summer Saturday

A good day so far. Leisurely awakening and nice hot shower, followed by breakfast and tea and hanging out with Meg (who spent the night) before she had to leave. Pottered around getting stuff done, eating lunch (leftover chicken from last night, nomnom), watching a bit of TV, washing dishes, that sort of thing. When Ken and Margaret (from Tasmania) got back from running bike errands, Margaret had a massage (because last night I raved about my massage goddess) and Ken and I walked to the Post Office and library (two books dropped off—Robert B. Parker’s Stranger in Paradise and de Lint’s Dingo—and one picked up—Flora Segunda). I flopped on the bed and read a couple of short stories and scritched the cats and enjoyed the cool breeze of the fan for a little while…

Now I’m settled in with a cup of tea in the study to work. I’ve brainstormed some questions for two nonfiction articles, and made a list of upcoming projects (in part because Ken asked on our walk, and in part because I get excited looking at all the fun things to do!). I’ve got a short story to finish and some research to do for Seasoned With Danger so I can get that proposal in the mail.

(After that, it’ll be back to Out of the Frying Pan. An editor has offered to look at it again if we make some changes, and Teresa and I agree that most of them will indeed make the book stronger. I also need to get more submissions out for Waking the Witch; a bunch are circulating, but I haven’t hit all the publishers I want to yet.)

And I understand Margaret’s taking us out for Thai tonight. Mmm, Thai!

Sale to Harlequin Spice!

Oh my gods, I’m so excited I could just explode into a million bits of Styx confetti!

I’m going to be in a Harlequin Spice anthology! *\o/*

::cue dancing and possible explosions::

The ever-splendiferous Alison Tyler pinged me awhile back about a story of mine she remembered, “The Broken Fiddle,” which is set in Ireland and involves a legend and Irish fairies and music (as all good stories should). She wanted to include it in her anthology Alison’s Wonderland, and she just got word from Harlequin about the final Table of Contents:

The Red Shoes (Redux) by Nikki Magennis
Fool’s Gold by Shanna Germain
The Three Billys by Sommer Marsden
David by Kristina Lloyd
Managers and Mermen by Donna George Storey
The Clean-Shaven Type by N.T. Morley
The Midas F*ck by Erica DeQuaya
Sleeping with Beauty by Allison Wonderland
Unveiling His Muse by Portia Da Costa
Always Break the Spines by Lana Fox
An Uphill Battle by Benjamin Eliot
Moonset by A.D.R Forte
Mastering Their Dungeons by Bryn Haniver
A Taste for Treasure by T.C. Calligari
The Broken Fiddle by Andrea Dale
The Cougar of Cobble Hill by Sophia Valenti
Wolff’s Tavern by Bella Dean
Slutty Cinderella by Jacqueline Applebee
Kiss It by Saskia Walker
Let Down Your Libido by Rachel Kramer Bussel
Dancing Shoes by Tsaurah Litzky
Gold, On Snow by Janine Ashbless
After the Happily Every After by Heidi Champa
Cupid Has Signed Off by Thomas S. Roche
The Walking Wheel by Georgia E. Jones
Rings on My Fingers by Alison Tyler
The Princess by Elspeth Potter

It won’t be out ‘til July 2010, but I’m still doing cartwheels now! Maximum squee!

Set the night to music

We’ve been busy the past few days. For one thing, we’ve had a houseguest for two days: Margaret from Tasmania. She’s a friend of Ken’s via various bike lists. Margaret is, for all intents and purposes, riding around the world on a BMW. She’s done Africa and South America so far, as well as a fair amount of the US. She’s also running the Iron Butt Rally* this year, so Ken’s helping her with some modifications to her bike.

Except Ken flew to Colorado this morning… He’s picking up a friend’s bike and riding it back here to use for spare parts in case something breaks on his bike during the rally. He’ll be home tomorrow.

The drive was utterly gorgeous. On the way home, I even turned off the AC and opened the window to smell the ocean, because it’s been a perfect day temperature-wise. (Who cares if my hair went in all directions simultaneously?) The sun sparkled on the waves. Surfers played. I managed to keep my eyes on the road and not die from trying to watch the incredible view. I feel pretty damn lucky to live here!

(And I want to learn how to surf. I’ve wanted to ever since I visited my sister when she lived in Hawaii… That was 20 years ago. Ack.)

Anyway, Margaret is spending a couple days in San Diego and then she’ll be back, too.

I came home after swinging by a new grocery store (small, but had some interesting and tasty fresh items I’ve not seen elsewhere), then Melanie came over and gave me a great massage. I had to run out for one more errand, but since then I’ve been home…with a small headache I can’t seem to shake. Tough patooties, because I must get the bulk of a short story written tonight! I’ve started it, and I know generally what happens. It just took a slightly different tone than I expected, so we’ll see if it sticks with that or if I’ve taken a wee wrong turn.

Music. Must have music.

Tomorrow I have a chiropractic appointment and then lunch with my friend Janice, which will take place conveniently near the Post Office and library, since I have to hit both of those places. Later I’m meeting Ellenie at Barnes & Noble for writerly gabbing, research, and ideally some writing as well. And at some point Ken will return home.

Thursday we’ll probably hit the Farmer’s Market again, and then I have a hair appointment, followed by a phone confab with Teresa. (We were supposed to have one last week, but her day job has been crazy.) After that is the Shire meeting, and somewhere in there Margaret will re-appear. And I will get some writing in.

Right now, Friday looks pretty open…except that it will get filled with work, because of the craziness of the two days preceding it. Phew! We also have to re-commit to hitting the gym, so…

As for the weekend…who has time to look that far ahead? ;-)

---

*IBR facts: More people have gone into space than completed the Iron Butt Rally. Also, more people have climbed Mount Everest than completed the Iron Butt Rally.

Of unbounded domesticity

We’ve been curiously domestic this past week, which I think is less of an anomaly and more of a case of us flipping over to get into our normal groove (which will, of course, change again mid-month when Ken leaves for the IBR).

We did a big meal-planning and food shopping early in the week, which resulted in some nummy home-cooked meals and/or big dinner salads. I also got hit with a craving for chocolate-chip oatmeal cookies, which I never crave. (Chocolate-chip cookies, sure. Oatmeal? Not so much. I freely and cheerfully blame Karen Abrahamson, who brought homemade oatmeal cookies to the OWN workshops, and they were there for me in a time of weakness.). So we went back out one night to pick up the ingredients for those, and I made them last night.

Damn, but I make a fine batch of cookies when I get hit with the urge about every 2.5 years!

(Now I’m craving lemon bars. Hopefully, this too shall pass. After all, I have three tubs of chocolate chip/coconut/oatmeal cookie dough in the fridge now. Because what’s the point of actually baking four dozen cookies for two people? Then again, there’s this lemon tree outside, and lemon bars don’t last very long, and there is a Shire meeting next week…)

We also pootled down to the local Farmer’s Market (a jaunt of all of two block east) to pick up various fresh things, including some corn picked right that morning. We ate it one day later and oh my gods it was good. Om nom nom. Seriously.

Friday we took my car in to Bert, my fabulous Swedish car guy, to eyeball the new engine he put in recently. He then drove us to a movie theatre where we wiled away our time watching Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Minor car parts are now on order, and then we hit Trader Joe’s for some essentials before heading up to the BMW dealer, whereupon Ken collected his newly tuned-up bike and we headed home.

We have Alias season 3 discs sitting here from Netflix, and now that we’re almost caught up with DVR stuff (less than one thing per night recording, I believe) we’ve been settling in to enjoy those.

And we’ve re-tidied the sewing room (Ken put up a new shelf while I was in Oregon, as well) so we can continue various projects there. Sweet. I did some mending while we acted like slugs and lounged in media room watching Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (movie version) and Being Human and Eureka.

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Currently Reading: Black Hills, Nora Roberts
Lately Listened To: Hallucination, Shaw/Blades
Recently Watched: see above

Nifty new writing contest

Hint Fiction:

"Tentatively scheduled for the fall of 2010, W.W. Norton will publish an anthology of Hint Fiction. What is Hint Fiction? It’s a story of 25 words or less that suggests a larger, more complex story. The thesis of the anthology is to prove that a story 25 words or less can have as much impact as a story 2,500 words or longer. The anthology will include between 100 and 150 stories. We want your best work."

Full guidelines can be found here.

Rock it, baby

Saturday I went to my 90th Styx show! Only 10 more until my new tattoo! Whoo!

I didn’t know until about 5:48 p.m. Friday night if I was even going, as I was waiting to hear from a friend about tickets (I hadn’t been able to get good ones when they went on sale). She came through, so the next day Ken and I were in the car headed north to Paso Robles. A fun show, but way too short (it was at the Mid-State Fair). My boys knew I was there. :-)

We set the iPod on random during the trip, which was highly amusing. Apparently there are many complaints about the random feature not being really random. (Ken actually said “They’re trying to make it more random,” which is a delightfully nonsensical statement.) So it kind of went Styx, Styx, Gowan, Styx, Gowan (from the same album), Marillion, Styx, Fish, Damn Yankees, Marillion, Robert Plant, Gowan, Marillion, Ultravox, Robert Plant (from the same album), Glen Burtnik, Guns n Roses, Glen Burtnik, Marillion, Fish, Styx. In other words, my iPod thinks it’s full of Styx and Styx-Related Product, and Marillion and Marillion-Related Product, with occasional other things. Which, given the amount of Brit pop and RWA sessions and folk/pagan/medieval music on it, is just wrong.

Sunday was mostly spent on house stuff. We moved a lot of books and magazines in our joint office, and Ken went through all his t-shirts and dresser drawers and purged greatly.

Today we did a massive grocery shopping so we have food for the next week or so (along with hitting the Farmer’s Market two blocks away come Thursday). And, um…yeah, I’ve been kind of lacking in the whole motivation thing, so not much else to report.

Except that we watched two eps of the Torchwood miniseries last night and three eps tonight, and thank goodness we had an ep of Big Bang Theory after that because Torchwood made me depressed and wanting to throw things at the TV. ::pout:: Stupid Torchwood. It didn’t help that I managed to read about a major spoiler not once, but twice beforehand. ::scowl::

In writerly news, today I received my comp copies of Lesbian Cowboys: Erotic Adventures, containing my story “Queens Up” (as Andrea Dale). It’s got a sexy saloon girl and a ranch lost in a poker game, and I had a blast writing it!

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Currently Reading: Black Hills, Nora Roberts
Lately Listened To: random, as interpreted by iPod software
Recently Watched: Torchwood: Children of Earth. Dammit.

How very Regency of us

Eleven years ago, Ken and I ran off to Gretna Green and eloped!

We celebrated today by going out to lunch at Fresh and Fabulous (sharing a panini of turkey, bleu cheese, and caramelized onions on seven-grain bread; French onion soup; and a Mediterranean salad), strolling on the beach, finally seeing Star Trek at the cheap theatre (kickass!), wandering around the antique stores in Ventura, and having chocolate cake and cheesecake at Zoey’s Café (we sat in the 1926 courtyard). Now we’re home, pootling about the computers for a few minutes before heading down to watch some TV and snuggle. Eventually supper will happen. We’re still full of cake. :-) There will no doubt be hot tubbing as well. And canoodling.

It’s just nice to actually have him home on our anniversary!

[Edited to add: Oops, forgot to post this before we wandered downstairs!]

~ ~ ~

The mail brings wonderful things. While I was away I received my comp copy of the charity anthology Coming Together: Against the Odds, which contains my story “Always a Bridesmaid.” Proceeds from the anthology will benefit Autism Speaks.

Today on my doorstep landed comp copies of Bottoms Up, containing my story “Stuffing the Ballot Box” (as Andrea Dale), as well as others by Donna George Storey, Alison Tyler, Teresa, Rachel Kramer Bussel (who also edited the anthology), and many more!

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Currently Reading: 13 Little Blue Envelopes, Maureen Johnson
Lately Listened To: nothing lately
Recently Watched: Leverage (mmm, shirtless Christian Kane!), Warehouse 13

Need book recommendations

Can anyone recommend good and funny romantic suspense, a la Agnes & the Hitman (Crusie & Mayer)?

Crashing into the surf

My darling Meglet and her daughter Julian arrived late-ish Tuesday night, so we had only a little time to chat before we all crashed. My headache was mostly gone at that point, but it came back over night, which, yea verily, did sucketh mightily. Ken and I had chiro appts this morning and it turned out my occipital bones were two inches skewed. Yes, my head wasn’t on straight. My chiropractor was amazed I wasn’t walking around with my head obviously tilted.

I came home and iced it for about an hour as per her directions, and that helped as well. After that we piled into the car and went to Thousand Oaks for suuuuushi at Cho Cho San. By the time we were done there, my headache was finally gone. Healed by sushi! Hallelujah!

We stopped by the BMW dealer so Ken could talk to them about the work they’re doing on his bike in preparation for the IBR. Hung out there for a while debating whether we should go see the new Harry Potter movie, go to the beach, and/or watch Eddie Izzard DVDs (Meg and Julian hadn’t seen Circle or Sexie). The beach won the first vote, so we donned suits and headed all of 3.5 miles to the ocean.

We rarely go to the beach, for some absurd reason. We walk on the sand occasionally, stop to watch the sunset, had a picnic once or twice, but that’s about it. I really have no idea why. Okay, a few minor ideas: I get bored just lying there, and I’m hyper-aware of the dangers of skin cancer, so sitting out in the sun isn’t the type of thing I want to do. On the flip side, I grew up on a big lake and swam competitively in high school, and I’d grow fins if I could, I love being in water so much. And the ocean is right there.

So Ken and I ran out into the waves and I bodysurfed and laughed hysterically until my eyes hurt from the salt, at which point I went and plopped down next to Meg and we talked and talked while Ken and Julian dug a moat so deep they hit the water table. Seriously. Waist-deep hole for Julian.

After that we picked up frozen pizzas, ice cream, and some salad fixings (to go with what we already had in the house), came home and showered, and then had a picnic of sorts and watched Eddie for hours.

It was a Very Good Day.

~ ~ ~

I woke up today with The Headache, Part2: Revenge of the Pain, although it was a poor sequel to the original. Advil, Drenamin, and caffeine chased it away. I also had a dentist appt, where I learned that one of my teeth has fractures in it and is probably dying. What joy. it doesn’t hurt yet, though (well, it does now that the dentist asked if it did, dammit, but that’s psychosomatic, right?), so I don’t have to worry about it yet.

Meg and Julian left while I was being poked with sharp metal objects, so the rest of today has been after-guest tidying (deflating the air bed, washing two sets of sheets and numerous towels, putting the sofa bed back upright, moving my office chair back into my office, etc., yadda yadda), a trip to the library (so Ken could apply for a new passport—his previous one had been with his laptop when that got stolen, and so I could load up on more books, as if my overstuffed bookcase of Books to Read isn’t about to topple over and smother me), and all that sort of things. Oh, and I moved some magazines onto new bookshelves as part of the main office re-arrangement of books &tc. Gah. Much magazine organization is in my future.

And, of course, there has been writing

~ ~ ~

In other news…

I got my page proofs today for “If the Shoe Fits,” which will appear in the DAW fantasy anthology The Trouble With Heroes. Squee! I’m so chuffed to have sold to this market! I received cover flats as well, and I see that it’s listed on Amazon with the cover, too—go forth and pre-order, for lo, it is an anthology full of fantastic stories by many amazing writers!

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Currently Reading: 13 Little Blue Envelopes, Maureen Johnson, a YA about a girl whose artist aunt sends her on a scavenger-hunt-type quest around Europe. Highly recommended!
Lately Listened To: Meg’s laughter
Recently Watched: Warehouse 13. Has potential!

Pics from the Oregon Writers Network workshops

Photos from the workshops, as well as walks on the beach, can be found here. Enjoy!

Pics from In the Flesh LA

A couple of photos from my reading at In the Flesh LA can be found here, to supplement the ones at the blog.

Enjoy!

Ken's big news!

I know, I teased you all with a mention of this, but truly, I’ve been too busy to do it justice, despite how excited for him and proud of him I am. :-)

As most of you probably know, Ken’s hobby is motorcycle rallies. These are essentially scavenger hunts on the motorcycle, ranging anywhere from 6 hours to 24 hours to multi-day things. The longest he’s done so far was a 7-day rally last year, which he would’ve won had the bike not broken down a few hours from the finish.

The last four rallies he ran, he’s won. This is unprecedented; nobody else has pulled that off before.

The Olympics of the sport, if you will, is called the Iron Butt Rally, or IBR. (Many of these are under the auspices of the Iron Butt Association. Yeah, I know, goofy name. Just work with me here, okay?) The IBR is run every two years, and it’s done by lottery—about 1000 riders sign up for the 100 available slots.

Did I mention it’s essentially 11,000 miles in 11 days? And that more people have gone into space than have run this rally (as of 2007)?

Anyway, Ken didn’t get picked for the 2009 rally. Then, at the end of last month, he won his fourth rally in a row, in Utah, and on his way to Oregon after that, he got a phone call.

He’s been invited to run this year’s IBR.

We waited until he got home from working in Oregon to discuss it fully; to contemplate at finances and schedules and all the other little issues and questions surrounding the decision. Still, I knew how badly he wanted to do it, and that the timing, despite being essentially last-minute, is pretty good: He doesn’t have a full-time job to juggle, and the bike’s pretty much set up in rally mode already. Financially, it’s not the wisest course of action at this moment in time, but you know what? Sometimes that can’t be the overriding factor.

My beloved’s running the IBR! Yay! *\o/*

I’ve got to check the exact dates, but it ends on Labor Day weekend in Spokane, WA, and it lasts 11 days, so that gives you a time frame. One of the checkpoints is in Santa Ana, so I’ll get to see him partway through! :-) And I’m definitely flying up for the awards banquet at the end. (Now we’re just trying to decide if it makes sense for us to finally do my Northwest Motorcycle Adventure birthday trip that was cruelly aborted three years ago when I ended up in the ER on my 40th birthday).

Anyway, he’s spent the time I’ve been away prepping for that, as well as finishing up some house stuff, updating his résumé (since the Oregon work is slowing down), and helping Brian and Morgana move Morgana’s mom into a new apartment, and…

I’ll no doubt be babbling about the IBR over the next month and a half (including updates while he’s on the rally), but if anyone has any questions about it, feel free to ask. Also, please send your congratulations and well wishes to him at ken.meese AT mac.com!

Enough about writing. Let's talk about reading!

Okay, so now that things have calmed down a little and I’m not in total writer brain, I can talk about other things that have happened recently! (“Recently” being an odd term for my head right now, because everything pre-Oregon seems like a loooong time ago.)

My reading at In the Flesh LA at Hustler Hollywood went very well! You can follow that link to a write-up about the evening, complete with pictures. Kim & Tom and Fran & Thom all came to support me, which was great. Thank you, guys! Because I’d practiced beforehand, I was only a little nervous, and although I bobbled a couple of times, everyone said it wasn’t obvious. I got laughs where I was supposed to, and none where I wasn’t supposed to, and that’s about the best that can happen, right?

(On the other hand, because I practiced ahead of time, I realized the story could very easily be the beginning of a novel. Because I need another bloody novel idea right now!)

The other readers read fun stuff, and our friend Tom won a goodie bag by being a good sport and reading some of another reader’s poetry. Yay Tom!

After that, Ken and I went to a hotel near the airport, since I was flying out early-ish the next day. It was nice to have a quiet evening after a day of running around packing and being a wee bit nervous about the reading.

Now, here’s the really fun part: Next month I’m part of a reading tour for three anthologies (of which I have stories in two, two solos as Andrea Dale and one coauthored with Teresa as Sophie Mouette). Guess where it’ll be held? At the regular In the Flesh LA night! I’ll send around a proper notice, but for now, you can mark your calendars for Wednesday, August 12, at 8 p.m.

Even more fun: Teresa will probably the phone-in reader!

I’m still trying to figure out which story of mine to read. The longer one has a great voice and would be more fun, but it’s too long, and I’m not sure if reading part of it will work. I need to try it out, see how it sounds. Hm, and maybe I should find out which of the three anthologies the other authors are reading from…

Here are the anthos I’m in:

Lesbian Cowboys: Erotic Adventures, “Queens Up” (as Andrea Dale)

Where the Girls Are, “Come to My Window” (as Andrea Dale) and “On Display" (as ½ of Sophie Mouette)

Over and begun

The workshops are over. (I’ll pause a minute to let that sink in…for me, at least.) I’m at our friends Lev & Gayle’s, heading to the airport in about an hour. They were kind enough to let me crash here last night. It worked out rather well, in fact; I arrived around suppertime, just after they’d arrived home from a weekend away, and since the friends Leslie was going to stay with weren’t going to arrive home ‘til late, she was able to join us for dinner.

(Of course, I’ll probably be posting this at the airport, because PDX has free wireless, but anyway.)

The second workshop was about Contracts and Copyright, and I got a headache hunched over the contracts we studied. It was unbelievably helpful, and yet we really only scratched the surface. I realized that contracts stress me out in part because I’m used to being able to read something and for the most part understand it—but I can read a contract clause and my eyes will have glazed over by the end and I’ll have no idea what it said. I won’t even have remembered the words. Of course, they stress everyone out, even attorneys who aren’t versed in intellectual property contracts.

I also learned that I’ve been misreading some contract language, which is illuminating as well. I’m looking forward to re-reading my previous contracts with a fresh eye.

Overall, it was an amazing time. I’m still exhausted, but somehow also refreshed, recharged, re-energized. I have new tools in my toolbox, ones that are going to change the way I work.

Leslie and I walked on the beach 7 out of the 10 days we were there, getting the loop down from about 50 to 40 minutes. Most days were cloudy, but yesterday was sunny and perfect. The water sparkled. The sand sparkled.

I already miss Leslie, miss the Oregon coast weather, miss Dean and Kris (whom I barely got to talk to) and all the other fabulous writers I’m privileged to call friends as well as colleagues.

All that said, I’m really, really glad to be going home. I miss Ken, I miss the cats, I miss my house and my bed and my DVR with fun stuff like Leverage and Torchwood waiting for me. Meg is coming to visit for a couple of days, and I have a much-needed massage and chiro appt in my very near future.

And I’m looking forward to the work I have on my plate. I’ve been reminded, though, that it’s not work. It’s fun. I can’t wait to see what happens!

~ ~ ~

At the airport now. I asked if they could switch me from an aisle to a window seat, and I scored an exit row! ::does happy dance::

Now to do a little work before boarding. See you on the flip side!

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Currently Reading: Valley of Silence, Nora Roberts
Lately Listened To: The surf and the gulls and Dean talking and Leslie laughing
Recently Watched: Flight of the Conchords, episode 1, with Lev & Gayle & Gayle’s nephew. Too funny!

We merry few, we band of writers

Our small group/one-on-one Structure workshop with Dean is mostly over, except for lunch tomorrow. We had no assignment tonight, so Leslie and I crashed, snagging the DVD A Night at the Museum from the main building. It’s one of her favorite movies, and I greatly enjoyed it. We laughed and laughed… Ah, it felt good.

Leslie and I have been getting along smashingly, negotiating a small cabin (her bedroom’s basically the living room; mine has a groovy beaded curtain for a door) with aplomb and great humor. I’m sooooo glad that when Phae bailed last minute, I thought to ask Leslie if she’d be willing to share the cabin (I couldn’t have afforded this otherwise, and she was thrilled for the price break as well).

Truth be told, we weren’t incredibly stressed this week. Dean swiftly figured out that none of the six of us had problems with story structure¬—we had other things blocking us. Teaching us some tricks of structure—things to internalize, send back to the subconscious to work as we’re writing, oblivious to them—was intended to get us past those blocks.

Fact is, every writer hits the same block at about the same place. Some writers have figured out how to get through it, so they don’t notice it as much. Neil Gaiman hits it. Charles de Lint hits it. Dean hits it. Man oh man, do I hit it! But now I’m feeling like I know what to do when I hit it, rather than flailing around in the dark like a drunken monkey.

The worst thing for a writer is for someone else to get into the middle of their project. You should be alone in your office: shut the door on critics, naysayers, editors (during the initial creation, this is), market news, etc. So, for the purposes of this week, Dean forced us all to start novels we didn’t plan on. Novels we didn’t, in some cases, even want to work on. For me, it was to take an exercise we’d done last weekend, which involved writing up a shopping list, and start expanding it into a novel.

I knew I should’ve made my shopping list for a sex toy boutique instead of a grocery store…

So now I have this here begun novel. It’s at about 6000 words. It’s funny, potentially sexy, and hoo boy, the problems I’m throwing at my characters.

It’s also, unfortunately, about cooking (among other things), so I see a bunch of eps of Top Chef in my future… Did I mention it’s called Seasoned With Danger?

The proposal is written, even, so after I clean up a few small details, I can actually get it circulating. (I’ll finish blanketing the world with the Waking the Witch proposals first.)

This weekend is the Contracts and Copyright workshop, and I sorely need it. I know there isn’t enough time to get nearly as deep as we’d all like, but we’ll come out of it with a far better grounding. I brought a couple of really bad contracts I’d been offered and refused (after the publisher declined to negotiate), and Dean nearly fell out of his chair when he read them….

Anyway. I’ll post this tomorrow (which is already today). Right now I’m very sleepy, and we’re having breakfast with Chris York tomorrow at the Inn at Spanish Head—yum!

Workshop Time

Workshop Time is an entity unto itself. Sometimes it feels as though I’ve been here for a week; other times, I want to refer to my reading as “last night.” The days blur, stretch, compress, expand. How many times have we walked on the beach? Which night did I toss and turn? How can I still have so many sandwich fixings but no milk?

I’m also trying to consider, each day, what motivates me here. What positive influences I can take home that drive me to the computer day after day. (Don’t get me wrong: I love writing. I can’t not write. But sometimes I avoid it, and I need to figure out why so I can stop doing it. The fear moves constantly. Bastard.)

Today Leslie and I woke about the same time, so we chatted during breakfast (about epic fantasy and religion and Kris’s books and, briefly, boobs), then we made tea (I brought my electric kettle). Now we’ve both retreated to our corners to sip tea and work, after which we’ll shower (not together, you pervs) and continue on. We’ll meet with Dean at The Hilltop for a session at 2 p.m., at which point we need to have our assignments done.

What would I be doing at home? Sipping tea and reading blogs, most likely. I’m not getting a strong enough wireless signal here in the cabin, although I did pop e-mail on my phone this morning. (Got some preliminary good news about a positive review, and my writing alias e-mail spammed my home e-mail address. Go figure.)

Now, to my assignment, one that made me giggle out loud more than once while I was working last night….

Sproing!

I’m in Oregon, having completed the first of two weekend workshops, which will bookend five days of a writing retreat. We studied story structure, which I thought I mostly knew, but apparently my definition of “story structure” was much, much more limited than I realized… Not nearly the level of epiphany as the Marketing Workshop last year, but hoo boy, did I have some light bulbs go off! Definitely some new tools for my writer’s toolbox, as they say. And at least one new short story idea I’m quite chuffed about.

I flew up on Thursday and met up with Leslie, Cindie, and Dave. Traffic was horrid, so we stopped for a late lunch/early dinner at a hole-in-the-wall Mexican place before really getting on the road. Still more traffic (a huge thanks to Leslie for driving through that with great skill and calmness!), but finally it thinned out, and finally we were in Lincoln City.

That night we hung out with a few other folks who’d come in early, as well as Dean, Steve, and Chris, before Leslie, Chris, and I repaired to our room to polish off a couple bottles of wine. (Dean stopped by to drop something off for Leslie and stayed for ages to chat, and also showed off his bartending skills by pouring us wine. Hee.)

Leslie and I are rooming together, and that’s proving to be a blast. We’ve known each other through a number of workshops, and while I had a pretty good sense that we’d get along well, I’m delighted just how comfortably we room together. Especially since her bed is in the living room of the cabin, and my bedroom doesn’t have a door, just a beaded curtain. (Groovy, man.)

We’ve managed to walk on the beach several times, which is always a highlight. The round trip takes 45-60 minutes and includes a nice uphill on the way back; we plan to have glutes of steel by the time we leave…

Originally I was going to just have a writing retreat for the five days between the two workshops, but after experiencing the Story Structure workshop and talking to Dean, I’ve decided to do a one-on-one session with him to work on some advanced structure issues. I’m not yet sure what my precise issue is, but I trust we’ll find it and he’ll beat it out of me with a club (or at least some hardcore assignments).

Now, however, I must dash: I have to finish a scene on PUM and get it off to Teresa before I meet with Dean to get tonight’s assignment, and I’d also like to maybe work on a short story if I have time. I still have a bunch of stuff to bring ya’ll up to speed on, though, like how my reading went, and some very very very exciting news about Ken!

Boggled

Long-time readers will remember that I grew up in a relatively small town in upstate New York where we didn’t get MTV for the first few years of the channel’s existence. I even remember asking Sarah (in one of our exchange 40-page-leters-every-two-weeks) what the hell this MTV she was babbling about was?!

In very great hindsight, I find myself wondering whether this ended up being blessing or a curse. If we’d had MTV, would I have tuned in to MuchMusic on one of the Canadian stations we were able to receive? Because if I hadn’t, I never would have seen the glory that was the “A Criminal Mind” video (complete with shots of Gowan, as he was then known, in a cage—my 17-year-old hormones didn’t have a clue what to do with that, but now we understand, oh, do we understand!). And goodness knows that was instrumental in leading me down the road that leads right smack dab to here. (When Styx announced Lawrence as their new keyboardist, I believe my response was “My Lawrence Gowan?!”)

But I digress. I’m not really here to talk about Styx (at least, not tonight). I’m here to talk about seeing Yes, with Special Guest, Asia, at the Anaheim House of Blues Sunday night.

I admit it, what I really wanted to see was Asia. I was listening to them while I was writing, I believe it was Thursday night, and some part of my brain blipped to the forefront and said, “Didn’t we hear something about them touring?” Honestly, I hadn’t followed the band’s career, didn’t know much more than the first couple of albums. But I had the power of the Internet at my fingertips, and lo! they were opening for Yes, and as the House of Blues is GA, that was the show to hit this week in the area.

I don’t have time to review the whole show here; I just want to say this: The highlight of the night—the highlight of a good chunk of my life—was when John Wetton said that these were the first hands ever seen on MTV, and Geoff Downes started playing a song from another band he’d been in.

The Buggles.

That’s right, Asia played “Video Killed the Radio Star.”

I didn’t get to see it launch MTV, but I got to see and hear it live.

(FWIW, because I’m also a band geek, my runner-up highlight was “Fanfare for a Common Man.” I am a total sucker for rock bands who do a stellar job of reinterpreting/reimaging classical music.)

In the Flesh reading

I'm going to be a featured author at July’s In the Flesh: LA in Hollywood!

Here’s the info:

When: Wednesday, July 8, 8 p.m.

Where: Hustler Hollywood, 8920 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069, 310-860-9009

What: In the Flesh: LA is the West Coast version of the acclaimed In The Flesh reading series founded by Rachel Kramer Bussel, and “features the city's best journalists, authors, scriptwriters and more offering their torrid tales for your entertainment and titillation.”

I’ve never done a reading before so I have to confess I’m getting kind of nervous… Oddly, I think I’ll be less nervous if I look out and see people I know, rather than complete strangers. I realize that it’s in the middle of the week and (for those of you in outlying areas*) it can be quite a trek to Hollywood, but if you can possibly make it, I would be eternally grateful and would love to see you.

Plus, there’s free underground parking on-site, complimentary snacks and desserts, and the chance to win a goodie bag of prizes! I have to admit, I wasn’t sure what to expect from Hustler Hollywood when I went to last month’s reading, so I’m delighted to say it’s a clean, bright, inviting store with a café, lots of books and t-shirts, and a fantastic, fun, positive atmosphere.

(*Yes, I know a lot of you aren’t even in southern California and that this post is really aimed at my friends who are local. However, I’m imagining all the rest of you will be there in spirit! Don’t let me down!)

If you have any questions about the reading, feel free to e-mail me at cyvarwydd@mac.com. Wish me luck!

and on and on

So much to update, so little time…

Two weekends ago was Carreg Wen Anniversary, and it has been far too long since we’ve visited that fair Shire. On the way we picked up our friend Lareej. We’ve known her forever, but she took a hiatus from the SCA and in the past year or so has been getting active again.

We’d forgotten what Lompoc was like—essentially fogged in—so we pretty much froze our patooties off, but we had a great time. The event was small, so we just hung out with friends and laughed a lot. And Ken won the rapier tournament so he’s Carreg Wen’s Rapier Champion! My Renaissance man: three motorcycle rally wins in a row and now a rapier championship. (And more on that later…)

Then Lareej came home with us and we were up drinking and carousing until 5 a.m. Yeah, I’ll sleep when I’m dead…

Ken spent last week finishing up stuff around the house, including building some new bookshelves for our joint office. (We’ll be moving the magazines to those, then shifting everything over so he has more space behind his desk for stuff.)

Then he headed off to Oregon for another rally, and I headed off to CP Prize Tourney, because I haven’t been to a Kingdom event in ages and ages and I’ve missed everybody. I carpooled with Ismay and Alia and Lareej (who crashed here the night before, and I swear we stayed up only until 1 a.m. this time, given that Ismay was due to show up at 7 a.m.), and you now how it’s like when you put four women in a car together… I had a massively fun day, reconnecting with folks I hadn’t seen in ages and winning a gorgeous bracelet in the raffle (it was the only thing that really sparked for me; I stuffed the rest of my tickets in for things that Lareej wanted, since much of her SCA stuff has disappeared over the past few years). All in all, a hugely enjoyable day, despite how hideously hot it got in the afternoon. We four grabbed dinner in Fillmore before heading home, and then lo, there was much sleeping (at least on my part).

Sunday I headed off to CB&TL to meet with another writer, and while I was there, I got the text from Ken: he’d won his fourth rally in a row! It’s an unprecedented win—as far as anybody knows, nobody has done accomplished this before. Wooh! *\o/*

In between all of that, I’ve been working working working. I was relieved to discover one of the anthologies I’m writing a story for has extended its deadline for a month; that was the one I didn’t have an idea for yet anyway. As for the rest of them, so far, so good…

Okay, it’s well into Tuesday and I have a writing-and-lunch date with Christine tomorrow morning, so I need to fall over in a wibbling heap of sleepy.

---

Currently Reading: Dance of the Gods, Nora Roberts; RT Bookclub; Faerie Magazine
Lately Listened To: Then and Now, Asia
Recently Watched: Doctor Who: The Next Doctor; NCIS rerun

This is what happens...

...when I let my Fabulous Gay Hairdresser free reign with a blowdryer and hair-straigtening thingie.

The cute receptionist at my gynecologist's loved it, so I guess it can't be all bad.

But I laughed in FGH's face when he suggested I, oh, buy a hair-straightening thingie. Really, who has the time?

When it rains, it pours...of course!

Right now, I have only one official deadline. By “official” I mean a deadline imposed by an editor. Everything else I’m working on has deadlines I’m imposing on myself. Not everyone thrives in that kind of atmosphere, but I do.

So (gulp) here’s what I’ve got on my plate right now:

By July 1, I have 4 (four!) anthologies I want to submit stories to. Two are erotica, and those are pretty short. I’m tempted to say “easy” as well, but no story is ever truly easy. With one, at least, I want to push a little bit, delve into the emotions a little deeper than I normally do.

The other two anthologies are science fiction. I write more fantasy than SF, and with one of the stories (which I’ve already started), I’m dealing with a difficult subject matter. Right now I haven’t a clue what I’m writing for the other story.

So, for the record, that’s four stories due in 12 days. Which is pretty darn easy when you look at it like that, given that I’ve written any number of overnight stories at workshops. I have ideas for three of the four stories, and one is already started.

Then there’s the new Custom Erotica Source assignment that landed in my In Box yesterday. It’s another fun one, and at 3K shouldn’t take me too long. It’s due July 6, but I’d certainly like to get it in sooner than that.

On top of that, however, the client wants a 500-word synopsis of what I’m going to write. I don’t really plot ahead of time (although I’m certainly capable of writing novel proposals before I’ve written a word of the novel), so it’s a bit of a challenge, and I’m nearly finished with it. (Goal: Send it to the editor tonight.) [Edited to add: I wrote this entry Friday night, and got the synopsis out then as well.]

But what about Possessed, Undressed, and in a Mess, you ask? Teresa and I are about halfway through the book right now, and the deadline in my head for that is July 9, the day I leave for Oregon.

My reasoning is this: I’m going to Lincoln City for two workshops, each over a weekend, and the five or so days between them are a writing retreat for me. During that time, I want to work on a single project, and PUM wouldn’t be a good candidate for that, because Teresa and I are tossing chapters back and forth, plotting as we go, and we frequently have to wait for one or the other to write something in order to know how the next scene should flow. If she were coming with me (and how fabby would that be? but alas, no) then we could easily finish the manuscript and maybe even hammer out a couple of stories… But she can’t be there, so whatever project I work on needs to be something I can focus on myself. And I’d rather have the draft of PUM out of my brain before then.

(I haven’t yet decided what my project there will be. In the running are two novels-in-progress—I’d shoot to finish one of them—or writing 5+ short stories—I have lots of ideas that get pushed aside in favor of an anthology theme, not to mention there are any number of upcoming anthologies I could work ahead for.)

So, to recap: Five short stories and one novel ms in about three weeks. To which I say, Whee! Let the roller coaster begin!

[Edited again: CES client liked my synopsis so much that he’s asked for the story to be doubled in size! Is it possible to say “Yay!” and “Eek!” in the same noise? ::gg:: ]

All I've got. You?

I have an entry written for today—well, for Friday, which has technically passed—but it’s downstairs on Afalwen and I have to get up at 7 a.m. to go to an SCA event, which I might’ve tried to bow out of had we not been bringing someone with us.

So this is it. This is all I’ve got.

What are you doing this weekend?

A meme I can actually get behind

If there is one person or more on your friends list who makes your world a better place just because they exist and who you would not have met (in real life or not) without the Internet, then post this same sentence in your journal.

Best Lesbian Romance 2010 for the win!

Sale! I opened up my e-mail this morning to find a contract from Best Lesbian Romance 2010 for “Queen’s Up”! The story will first appear in Lesbian Cowboys: Erotic Adventures from Cleis Press in August.

Plus there was an e-mail from another editor saying she should have final approval on the table of contents for another anthology by mid-July. What often happens is that an editor will select the stories, and sometimes even send the contract, but the publisher has the final say on the selections. I’m keeping my fingers crossed, because this is a very exciting potential publication!

(The same caveat applies to Best Lesbian Romance 2010, but I’m being positive because it’s also being published by Cleis, and they’ve never nixed one of my stories as far as I can remember.)

Today is starting out quite nicely!

We <3 Alison Tyler

Editor and author Alison Tyler is being coy as usual. She’ll admit that June is her birthday month, and that she likes to celebrate all month, but she won’t admit which day is her actual birthday.

She ducks her head, hiding behind a fall of dark hair. She says she’s shy while she reveals intimate details of her life. She won’t let us see her face, but she’ll show us her shoes, her little skirts, her panties (okay, maybe not always in pictures, but she paints pictures with words, and how can we help but fill in the rest with our imaginations?).

She writes, she edits, she drinks coffee in the morning and tequila at night (or is it the other way around), and all the while she reminds us how much you can confess while at the same time divulging just enough to tease.

Because you know what teases get? A spanking. Spankings: They’re not just for birthdays anymore.

We’ve declared today to be her birthday, whether or not it actually is, because, well, we wanted to throw her a party. Any excuse to party, right? If you follow the link above, you'll get links to everyone else who's staggering around with glasses of champagne and party horns, wrapped in streamers and smeared with frosting.

So, Happy Birthday Alison! I’ll be thinking of you tomorrow at the Erotic LA expo, imagining you’re there with me, saying, “Oh, I have this toy, and this one, and this one, and ooh, this one’s great, too, and…!”

On staying positive

One of my writing mentors, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, has been doing a series of articles in her blog about how to be a freelancer. She’d originally conceived of doing writing a book, but realized that in these difficult times, people needed the information now.

The series is, well, outstanding. Kris has been a freelancer for most of her adult life, and she’s overcome her share of adversity more than once to be a successful, prolific award-winning writer and editor. She’s also not afraid to be honest, candid, and blunt.

So far she’s covered everything from how to set up your office to the various insurance issues you need to consider, but the article that so far has been the most useful to me is about Staying Positive.

You wouldn’t think that would be a hard thing at some stage of the game. Maybe at first, when the rejections pour in, but hey, I’ve sold two novels and 85 or so short stories. Certainly I must dance to the computer every day and the words flow while rainbow-colored sparks shoot out of my fingertips as I type, right?

Yeah. Snort.

Oddly, hearing someone I have respected for a very, very long time (I was a fan of Kris’s work well before I took the Master Class in March 2002, and I still sometimes have awestruck fangirl moments around her—note that above, I called her one of my writing mentors rather than one of my colleagues. I’m working on that. ::gg::) admit to having moments of self-doubt is somehow encouraging to me. I know that sounds weird. It sounds weird to me. But I know I put people I admire and respect up on pedestals, and I’m working on that, too.

One of the things Kris said she does to stay positive really resonated with me: She keeps a desk calendar at hand, and every day writes down the good things that have happened, writing-wise: fan mail, awards, payments, covers, and the like.

I had the perfect blank journal for this already waiting for me. It’s one that Phae bought for me in Lincoln City during one of our workshops there, at a coffee house with wireless Internet that we frequented (before the workshops moved to a hotel with wireless access). On the front it says, “This is the way you slip through into your innermost home: Close your eyes, and…surrender.” Inside are some other similar quotes. On the back it says, “Unfold your own myths.”

How fucking perfect is that?

So with a purple pen I’ve started logging things. Not every day (yet), but as they come in. The glowing thank you from the client calling my first CES story “PERFECT” (yes, in all caps). The nice things Shanna said about me in her blog (and which I at first downplayed in my own head, rather than embracing—I am prolific, dammit, and I have to believe that for it to be true). The recent e-mail I got from an editor about a novel query: She didn’t think it was for her, but rather than just rejecting it, she saw enough merit in it that she “checked with a few of [her] colleagues” and gave me the direct e-mail of another editor who’d like to see it.

I’m even tracking the good writing days, the ones where I hit my goals. No dancing or rainbows, but close enough for me. It’s good to be reminded that some days, the writing does flow. You just have to get out of your own way and let it happen.

My fantasy has turned to madness

After a frustrating couple of days—problems with my shoulder killed my productivity and sapped my energy and enthusiasm—today was quite lovely and productive.

• We threw the fixings for white bean/chicken chili into the crockpot. Nom.
  
• We watered the cat (i.e., gave Grimoire subcutaneous fluids).
  
• I did some dishes. (There are now more, and I think they’re my chore again. Dammit.)
  
• I sent an e-birthday card to a friend.
  
• I wrote on Possessed, Undressed, and in a Mess and submitted two recently returned stories. (Sadly, did not get to short story or critiquing.)
  
• I compiled some info for a nonfiction article and did some other related research.
  
• We worked out at the gym.
  
• We detoured on the way to the grocery store to watch the sunset from the beach (the beach is about half a mile farther away than the store, so…).
  
• We watched several episodes of season three of Alias while trying to figure out if this is the season where the show jumps the shark.
  

Tomorrow, more of the same. Ken’s going to go to fighter practice, and I may wander by with a handwork project or the laptop and watch him poke at people with long metal objects. Or, if she’s up to it, Morgana and I may go for a walk. Either way, there will be writing and critiquing and nonfiction article brainstorming and querying.

Now, very soon, there will be bed. And that’s always good.

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Currently Reading: Getting Over Jack Wagner, Elise Juska
Lately Listened To: RWA workshops on the iPod while working out
Recently Watched: Alias

Hittin' goals

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lab.drwicked.com

Brief update

Arm still tender, after bruising massage by therapist and adjustment by chiropractor and lots of icing and Advil. Ulna and first rib (where it meets collar bone) both out of whack (well, not anymore).

Car back! I’m just shy of $5000 poorer.

Pirate Tournament tomorrow. Well, Pirate Tournament/Darach Anniversary/Darach Equestrian Championship/Altavia Equestrian Championship. Me, I’m putting on my pirate duds and being Wicked Red. Who is really more purple now, but Wicked Purple just doesn’t scan well.

Potted herb garden is thriving, except for the thyme. Who’d’ve guessed?

Six stories to mail. Then, back to writing and critiquing and novel subs, and…

More when I’ve dug myself out of the pile. Gently, still favoring forearm.

Timing is everything

Oh for the love of all that’s holy…

Ken’s got a bunch of errands to run tomorrow, and today I hammered out the details of a short story I need to submit by the end of the month, so I was looking forward to an all-writing, all-the-time day tomorrow (well, writing, submissions, continuing to read a novel I’m critiquing, updating my mailing list, etc.).

But I’ve apparently been doing too much mouse work of late, because my right forearm is hurting and a wee bit tingly, which means I’m developing tendonitis.

I iced it tonight and just took a bunch of Advil, but I should probably stop typing now. I think I’m just going to limit my computer activities for the next few days to only writing and anything else crucial. I’ll be scarce on Facebook and e-mail; I’ll check e-mail, but if you need me, calling will probably be better.

Of course, Friday is Brian’s day off and it’s our turn to do house stuff (he gets every other Friday off, so he and Ken are switching between houses to work on projects, as are Morgana and I)—and Morgana and I were going to work on curtains for our living room and dining room. Sewing. Not good for arm.

Frak me.

Radio silence: Commencing. Think healing thoughts, please!

Plans for today

Plans for Today:

• meal planning and grocery shopping w/Ken
  
• short story planning and beginning
  
• Waking the Witch submissions
  
• gym
  
• Textile Guild at Morgana’s – assembling the leather bodice
  
• ideally, some e-mail catching up
  

Let’s see how it goes!

Feeling the love...and the pain

We left for Phoenix Thursday last, late morning, stopping in the Valley for lunch at Lulu’s. Half a caprese sandwich and salad, nomnom, plus a mocha to go. It was strange to be there without Christine or Jenn, and without my laptop, though. After a brief stop at a Radio Shack to pick up an auxiliary cord so we could plug in my iPod or Ken’s iPhone for music, we were on our way to Phoenix. We stopped once for gas, as well as some homemade beef jerky to supplement our road food, on the way. Good music, good conversation, good company.

Our friend Sara and her husband Lee had been at their timeshare in Sedona until that afternoon and wanted an evening in, so we picked up coleslaw and BBQ kettle chips to supplement their planned picnic in front of the TV (deli meats and cheeses, etc.). We watched an ep of Castle that Ken and I had missed, plus Nathan Fillion in a leather kilt on a talk show (mmm), and then Sara and I talked late into the night about all things Styx and Ren Faire and goodness knows what else.

The next day we took them out to brunch at The Good Egg and they took us to a fantastic used book store, where I only bought books on my list, I swear….

We’d hoped to meet up with some friends before the show, but none of the arrangements worked out, so the three of us (Lee isn’t into crowds) had dinner at an Irish pub (note to self: fish and chips plus a pint of cider isn’t the best meal before a show) and got to the venue comfortably on time. We had second-row pit seats between JY and Tommy, and it turned out that two of our friends (from LA) were directly in front of us. (Actually, Ken and I had the second-row seats and Sara had a third-row seat a few seats over, but Ken traded tickets with her and then smooshed in behind me.)

Sara had never gotten a “green bag” (the Styx-logoed tote bags that each member tosses to the audience at the end of each show) and this was probably her only show for the year, so she had a sign asking for a bag, and I had a sign asking for her to get a bag. To our delight, Tommy not only saw the signs but made sure his bag got to her. I also managed to duck a security guard to get her a set list after the show was over. :-)

We stayed up far too late playing the “Spot Dayle in the Audience of the One With Everything: Styx With the Contemporary Youth Orchestra DVD Drinking Game,” so peeling ourselves out of bed the next morning wasn’t an easy prospect. But we did, said our sad farewells, and made it home in time to snuggle with the kitties.

We didn’t have to leave for Fresno on Sunday until just after lunch, so we were able to spend a productive-ish morning at home. We had fourth-row tickets for this show, but snuck up to the first row for the encore. Another great show! but then we had a 3.5-hour drive home… Yawn.

My camera crapped out after the Phoenix show—the pictures looked fine on the camera but wouldn’t download to the computer properly—but I’ll upload the ones from Fresno soon. Really. Honest.

Fast-forward to Thursday, when we hopped on the bike and headed to our friends Nanci and Lenny’s so I could fluff-and-buff before the show. Ken went on to San Bernardino to pick up a couple of vats of gumbo (long story) while I got ready and hung out with Nanci, then we rode with her to the show. Sixth-row seats on Tommy’s side again, but damned if Tommy didn’t spot us in the crowd during the very first song. And Lawrence sang a line of “Come Sail Away” at me, so we were totally feeling the love. :-)

Oh, and much to my great amusement, when we found our seats, we were next to a woman doing kumihimo braiding! She does Ren Faire rather than SCA, but we still had a great chat, and I need to e-mail her with the heart braid pattern I found online.

Friday afternoon Ken headed up to Hanford with the gumbo; I stayed home to try to have some modicum of a productive weekend. Alas, I was suffering from Post-Concert Depression as well as a severe case of I Don’t Give a Sh*t, so I gave myself some time off to regroup. Saturday I went to Morgana’s and we cut out a leather bodice for me for Pirate Tournament—provided I can get the spring steel boning in time, we’re talking three long seams, two shoulder seams, and sewing the boning channels, plus grommets. Piece of cake. Afterwards, she and Brian invited me to dinner. I actually did get some writing done later that evening, and then Ken arrived back home last night from his bike adventures.

Yesterday I went to CB&TL, but I hadn’t seen Ellenie in months, so we spent our time catching up. A good recharge, though, and we have a writing date for Wednesday evening. Plus I got a little writing done yesterday evening.

After I finish the PUM scene on my agenda (it’s written in my head…), and review Teresa’s, and send more Waking the Witch proposals (now that all of the PUM and OOTFP proposals are in the mail save one that was recently returned), and write a short story, and…

Never a dull moment ‘round here!

::guiltily waves hello::

You know you haven’t updated your journal in a while when your mother e-mails to ask if you’re okay.

Sorry, Mom.

I have several updates in the works, but no time to finish them, so here’s the short version: Concerts fabby (Tommy pointed at me in the sixth row!), but all the travel put me behind on work. Combine that with Post-Concert Depression and a serious case of I Don’t Give a Sh*t, I’m still clawing my way back up out of the mire.

So, apologies to all. I have high hopes for getting back on track this week…as long as I can pull a full night’s sleep one of these nights…