Challenge, Days 2 and 3

Well. Well.

Monday, I wrote another 1000 words on “Braceleted.” Every single one of those words was forcibly chiseled out of my brain by a one-armed dwarf wielding a broken pick-axe. They took me all damn day. You know you’re having a tough writing day when you keep picking up The War of Art and being entirely aware that you’re using it as Resistance.

So, yeah, it was pretty awful, and I let my brain (stupid brain) convince me that I was failing at the challenge because the damn story still wasn’t done. Before you say anything, let me add that I know how stupid that is. I wrote 1000 words, which was 1000 words more than I had the day before. And that is freakin’ awesome.

Of course, it took me all day yesterday—during which I wrote not a single word—to get to that point. Me having a meltdown and Ken giving me a wise pep talk was included in the program.

This morning I got an offer to…I don’t know how to describe it without saying too much. Someone is looking for a writer for something, and I was one of the people asked to apply for the job. So I dropped everything to put together a new writer’s résumé targeted for that job. From what little I know, it would be very groovy, so I’ve got my fingers crossed there.

Now I have to get back to “Braceleted,” and figure out how to resolve the conflict so I can finish the frakking story and get it in the mail and get on to the next story! I’m at CB&TL with Tanya now, totally hyped up on an Ultimate mocha (the kind w/the chocolate-covered espresso beans in it), and I’ve finished my résumé, but I’ve only got about half an hour left before I head home so Ken and I can go to the gym, which is the subject of another entry. Soon.

Challenge Update, Day 1

I got 3K done on the story, and it’s not anywhere close to being done. Um, oh. So much for that 6K low-end goal. I’ll finish it tomorrow; I’m quite pleased with my progress.

We also got some house stuff done, including laundry, prepping for tomorrow’s slow cooker jambalaya, discussing kitchen curtains (the ones I made are mediocre and annoying us both), and cleaning the kitchen. We took a walk, but the very selfsame good workout sneakers I wore only yesterday (when I walked to the library) decided to give me a bloody blister today. Grr, argh. I did get some good stretching done afterwards, though.

And we watched perhaps the stupidest episode of Sanctuary possible….

The Challenge (dun dun dun)

A friend in the Oregon Writers Network is taking the week of to do a novel-in-a-week challenge and pinged the list we have for such things to see if anyone else was interested in joining. I believe we have someone doing the second half of a novel, and someone working on an nonfiction book.

For me, I’m not in quite the right place to start a new novel (although I know which one I’d’ve chosen), and I’m not in quite the right place on any of the novels-in-progress. What I am in the right place for is to get ahead on all the upcoming anthologies I want to hit, so I decided to participate with a Story a Day for Seven Days.

First up: Finishing “Braceleted” for The Mammoth Book of Hot Romance. Goal is 6–10K erotic romance. I’m just shy of 2.5K right now. I’m also getting a late start today, because we slept in, then did some scrubbing in the kitchen and tidied the sewing room and started laundry and whatnot.

Other anthologies I’m looking to hit (in no particular order):

• Dollhouse essay contest. Maybe. I don’t have a brilliant idea, and it’s due tomorrow…
• Ghosts and the Uncanny.
• The Way of the Wizard. I’ve already had one story rejected here and I’m about to send another, but if the second gets dinged, I want a fresh story ready to go. And if the second gets accepted, then I have a brand-new story to start circulating!
• Baen’s near-future of manned space exploration contest. This’ll be a challenge, since I so rarely write SF.
• Music for Another World.
• Crimebake.
• Best Bondage Erotica 2011. I’ve got a partial story that I’ll finish up for this.
• Best Lesbian Romance 2011.
• The Christmas Spirit. This one’s 1.3K max, so I may shoehorn it in on another day.

That would clear out my schedule up to an end-of-May novella deadline, provided no new fun projects crop up in the meantime. Well, I know the overnight Denise Little Workshop story will hit me in a bit, but at least I know about when, and how much time I’ll have! :-)

Disinfected and back in the game

My ear infection finally started clearing up this past weekend. So, yeah, a week and a half of not being able to hear out of one ear, feeling weak and wibbly, and eating like a starving person. The plus side? No pain (thank you, Universe!), no weight gain, and it was a good excuse to lie on the sofa and watch enough shows that our DVR isn’t teetering on the edge of explosion. Although I was starting to feel better by Friday night/Saturday morning, I decided not to risk our friends’ Annual Amazing Awesome Superbowl Party and instead hibernate and continue to recover. We did run a bunch of errands over the weekend, though, and Ken rewired the bathroom light and removed the ugly jury-rigged nonfunctional light fixture thingie along one side of the cabinet.

Apologies again to those of you who follow me on Facebook and/or Twitter, who had to put up with my whinging. The ear infection felt like I was being knocked down before I’d really gotten back on my feet after NY, and then several things happened that made me feel like I was being kicked after I was down. I wouldn’t have reacted as strongly if I hadn’t already felt like shit, but I also managed to not (a) cry in public or (b) lash out and make things worse. Some of it I’ve let go, some of it I’ve smoothed out. And that’s all very good.

Last night we drove down to Hermosa Beach for a friend’s birthday dinner at The Ragin’ Cajun and had a blast. It helped so much to get out and hang out with fun people. Even better? None of that predicted awful rain, which would have made the drive less fun. Also? As we set out, we thought something was wrong with the car, and where were we at that moment? Right next to a Pep Boys. Ken tweaked a few things and all was fine, and we still made it to dinner on time.

And it’s so, so very good to have energy and a brain again. I can still look at the piles of things I have to do and feel overwhelmed, but I can also then take a deep breath, pick the next step on one project, and complete that step. And then move on to the next.

Other Good Stuff That’s Happened:

• I sold a story to Rachel Kramer Bussel’s Fast Girls: Erotica for Women anthology!
• I’ve had to preliminary story acceptances (pending publisher approval)!
• I’m waiting on a contract for another story sale to a magazine!
• I got a short CES assignment and turned it in early.
• I’m in the midst of writing a really fun, sexy story with characters I really like.
• I received the page proofs for Allison’s Wonderland, my very first Harlequin Spice anthology. Even better? I got the proofs for the whole anthology, so I get to read everyone else’s story early! (Look how good I’m am, refraining from saying “Neener neener”!)
• I have a lead on a freelance editing job.
• I met Neil Gaiman! And I was able to figure out something to say to him, which I managed to do without stuttering or throwing up on his shoes.
• We saw Eddie Izzard! Plus, his Twitter feed is live on big screens in the venues he’s playing before the shows, and I got a picture of my tweet. I am such a geek.
• I’m getting caught up on Kingdom Chronicler stuff, so I’ll be up to speed when I step up in June.
• We’ve actually been cooking some decent meals. Ken created a fajita-chicken dish that we had with Spanish rice and corn, and we did a beef roast in the crock pot, and we made some yummy Sloppy Joe’s, too.
• The cats are soft and fuzzy and they purr a lot.
• I was not, in fact, out of either purple or blue file folders, so I can now file a pile of writing stuff.

Okay. Back to work!

Sale to Fast Girls!

Fast Girls: Erotica for Women, edited by Rachel Kramer Bussel, Cleis Press, July 2010

Temptation Kayla Perrin
Waxing Eloquent Donna George Storey
Five-minute Porn Star Jacqueline Applebee
Winter, Summer Tristan Taormino
Playing the Market Angela Caperton
Panther Suzanne V. Slate
Communal Saskia Walker
Fireworks Lolita Lopez
Flash! Andrea Dale
Waiting for Beethoven Susie Hara
Confessions of a Kinky Shopaholic Jen Peters
Let’s Dance D.L. King
That Girl by Cherry Bomb
Oz Isabelle Gray
Married Life Charlotte Stein
Princess by Elizabeth Coldwell
Chasing Danger by Kristina Wright
Whore Complex Rachel Kramer Bussel
Lessons, Slow and Painful Tess Danesi
Speed Bumps Tenille Brown

The subject of tonight's flailing about

And I didn't even throw up on his shoes when I told him I was a writer with two books out and his poem "Instructions" was one of the things hung up next to my writing computer.

Go me.

Looking on the business side

Ken had a headache this afternoon, so we threw on a silly movie (one I’d snagged from Netflix to watch in NY or on the flight home when we needed something mindless). I grabbed Afalwen so I could catch up on some online reading, since I really didn’t have to pay attention to the movie.

I’m lucky to know some damn amazing pro writers, and one of the things that makes them amazing is the way they pay it forward. Kristine Kathryn Rusch and Dean Wesley Smith’s are both essentially writing books, chapter-by-chapter, on their blogs, that are essential to understanding freelancing and a writer’s career.

• Kris is writing the Freelancer Writer’s Survival Guide. She’s covering everything from things to consider when you’re thinking about quitting your day job, to settle schedules to how to keep your morale up, to handling jealousy (yours and others’), to negotiations, to…
• Dean has written a great series on motivation and goals for the new year, and is now busting myths about agents left, right, and center in a series called Killing the Sacred Cows of Publishing. The discussions in the comments are worth their weight in gold, with other pros such as Laura Anne Gilman chiming in.
• I don’t know Laura Anne personally, but her blog is also a wealth of information. She used to be an editor, and now she’s a full-time, prolific writer—so she’s able to look at things from both sides of the business.
• A blog I’m just getting into now is NINC (Novelists, Inc.). A whole bunch of pros chiming in on a regular basis…how can any writer pass up a wealth of information like that?
• I also like Smart Bitches, Trashy Books for their take on what’s going on in publishing news.

So, those are my current reading suggestions for writers wanting to learn more about the business side of things. What are your go-to blogs and sites?

"Early" is relative

Ken and I had plans to get to bed “early” tonight (as in, early for us). Cue maniacal laughter here. Not so much. We’re still poking away at our respective computers… I’ve gotten a fair amount of e-mail accomplished, so it’s not like it’s been a waste.

I spent far too much time today at the urgicare center. We got there about 12:30 or 1, I think, and left at 3:30 p.m. Argh. The doctor was bamboozled about my ear. I have no real visible wax, although my eardrum looks dark. I’m now on antibiotics, prescription ear drops (in case of infection), and steroids. Wooh. Those are all basically precautions, because what probably happened is I’ve got massage oil in there, blocking my eardrum. My massage therapist spent about half an hour (of our two-hour, full-body session) on my neck and jaw, which is where a good month’s worth of stress had settled to lock everything up. (I had some massive headaches in NY.) Immediately after my massage—while she was still here, in fact, I was seized by the notion to clean out my ears…so I probably shoved some oil in there on a Q-tip. As a comedian once quipped, “Good going, MacGyver.”* Sigh.

On a positive note, my blood pressure was flat-out normal. It’s been high-normal in the past, which has concerned me, but even though my exercise lately has been, um, nonexistent, apparently I’m doing okay.

Um. So I did get a few hundred words done on a story (not the story that’s due the soonest, but the story I have a good idea on that’s also hands-down fun to write—and I really needed “fun” in the writing tonight).

We also had über-yummy leftover curry (over fresh Jasmine rice—I love the veg/rice steamer, thank you again Cat!), watered the cats, and curled up to watch some TV together.

And now Ken has wandered towards the bedroom, and I’m wandering after him! G’night!

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*Um. MacGyver is in Word’s spellcheck. WTF?

What do I do with this?!

Last night we made Pad Thai (from the Trader Joe’s boxed mix) and a very yummy chicken curry over Jasmine rice. Because we were also cooking for Morgana and Brian, I sautéed the shrimp for the Pad Thai separately, and put tofu directly in the Pad Thai for some texture.

Now, what do I do with 2/3 of a block of tofu? I’m not especially fond of it except when it’s mixed well into Asian dishes. We still have a lot of curry left and it’s pretty soupy, so should I just chunk up the tofu, fry it up, and toss it in? Or does anyone have some amazing tofu recipe* they could share?

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*Hah! I typed “receipt” first, because I really am stuck in the past.

NY photos

A few photos from New York here.

Backstory

The only easy Internet access I had in upstate NY was at the hospital, which blocked me from logging into Blogger. (I could read posts, but couldn't upload my own or comment on anyone else's.) I write my journal in Word and upload the posts (except for certain private ones), so the following are all of the posts I wrote and couldn't upload over the past month.

Friday, 25 December 2009

Merry LAXmas! United Airline’s gift to me was seats in Economy Plus. Legroom, baybee, and no seatmates (the planes weren’t very full)!

I hate to shop, but when it goes right and I get everything I want without a lot of time or hassle, I can indeed be left with a smug feeling. On Wednesday I procured

• inexpensive socks at TJ Maxx (pack of 3 regular and pack of 3 knee socks, since I am after all going somewhere cold): $15
• reindeer antlers at Borders for Christmas travel, half off: $5
• purpley/burgundy wool coat at thrift shop: $10

The only downside is that I’m just taking a small carry-on suitcase (plus my computer bag), which means I have to lug the bulky coat separately. Meh. Thankfully I have only one layover.

I was so tired last night, I made my sandwiches wrong. I put the roast beef on the bread with the cheddar and stoneground mustard, and the turkey on the bread with the Swiss, mayo, and horseradish…

Saturday, 2 January 2009

Since I have a rotten stinking cold, I’m not going to the hospital to visit my dad (he has a minor infection somewhere that they’re trying to track down and vanquish). Since I have a rotten stinking cold, I’m also not feeling quite up to creating new fiction. So this afternoon I spent a few hours updating spreadsheets and making lists of things to do:

• stories to submit or resubmit. Before I left, I did a follow-up on most of the stories that have been languishing. I’ve already received one “eek, please re-send and we’ll look at it ASAP” and one rejection.
• nonfiction proposals to write up. I feel like I have enough brainpower to sketch out nonfiction proposals, so I’m working on these.
• the ubiquitous “Other” category. This includes everything from following up on missing contracts, to printing any online stories for the notebook I have for them, to making a list of sold stories I can submit to online and audio markets.

Friday, 8 January 2010

Wooh! TOC for Retro Spec: Tales of Fantasy and Nostalgia! (Click on the link for more info about the stories.) It’s scheduled for an October 2010 release!

Jude-Marie Green, “Hula Hoop”
Robert Borski, “Invasion, 1955”
Neil Coghlan, “Storm on Fifth Avenue”
K.M. Praschak, “Rain Goddess: The Dust Bowl, 1930s”
Lyn C. A. Gardner, “The Mustache”
Bruce Boston, “beat people”
Leonard Richardson, “The Day Alan Turing Came Out”
Brian Rosenberger, “These United States of Frankenstein: Meltdown”
Jennifer Rachel Baumer, “New and Improved”
Amanda C. Davis, “Sparks between Our Teeth”
Cliff Winnig, “R101 Is Burning”
Todd Wheeler, “Dreams like Snowflakes”
Karen A. Romanko, “Zeb”
Cat Rambo, “Ticktock Girl”
Lon Prater, “All That Remains Is the Middle”
Don D’Ammassa, “Slipstream Fiction”
G. O. Clark, “Putting off the Past”
Marge Simon, “The Fix”
Nancy Ellis Taylor, “The Last Time I Was in Vienna”
C.D. Covington, “U8: Alexanderplatz (1989)”
Dayle A. Dermatis, “The Devil Went down to the Sunset Strip”
Paul Abbamondi, “Art Deco and the Infestation of New America”
Ann K. Schwader, “The Darkness Whispers”
Brenta Blevins, “Mercury 13--And Beyond”
David D. Levine, “Nucleon”

~ ~ ~

This is truly annoying. I can view my journal on Blogspot, but I can’t log into it. Also, I can’t access my website at all. I have work to do. I’m pretty sure it’s the hospital’s system, so I’m going to have to go to the library (where (a) my computer’s wireless is creakingly slow and (b) they may block the same sites) or find somewhere else. Grr, argh!

Sunday, 10 January 2010

Things I Miss Right Now: my cats, PG Tipps (I ran out) my chiropractor, my massage therapist, my bed (only twins here).

Things I Missed About Winter: the sound of snow crunching beneath my feet, the way the really cold air takes my breath away the first time I step outside, catching snowflakes on my tongue (which I did in the pizza/sub shop parking lot one night), sledding.

Workity workity

I came home to (or with, since most were via e-mail) a slew of story rejections—I guess editors were cleaning out their In Boxes. Several of them were so close, which is good (close is better than not at all) and bad (ack! not close enough!). In two cases, I’ve been invited to resubmit the same story later: one because it’s a holiday-themed story and they’d rather not sit on it until August when they start planning their holiday issue, and the other because it came so close to this anthology that they’d be happy to consider it if they do another antho in the series.

Better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick, I suppose, but now I have a pile of stories to get back in the mail! I’m spending a little time this morning printing the e-mails for the hard copy files, moving them (and the submission e-mails) into the Rejections folder in my e-mail, and so forth.

And yes, I did get Very Good Things, too, such as

• a “this is being passed up to the editor” e-mail
• comp copies of Best Lesbian Romance 2010 (containing the reprint of “Queens Up,” my wild west story)
• a request for a bio for another reprint story (one of my Battletech stories, but I don’t know which one yet)
• the cover of Retro Spec: Tales of Fantasy and Nostalgia, which will include my story “The Devil Went Down to the Sunset Strip.” Isn’t it pretty?!

Thanks to…

• Sheri for calling me from the concert in Anaheim during “A Criminal Mind”
• Nanci, Lenny, and Monk for recording the same song and texting me simian hugs and banana love
• Fran for calling me the next night for an unidentified song, then again during “A Criminal Mind” and then leaving the phone on for six songs
• Tani for sending PG Tipps (I immediately threw out the swill I was drinking and made a proper cup of tea)
• Susan for coming to the viewing and also bringing me PG Tipps
• everyone, absolutely everyone, for their e-mails and blog and Facebook comments of condolence and support. I’m sorry I can’t thank you all individually right now.
• Don for picking up my sister and niece at the airport
• Morgana, Melanie, and Deborah for keeping the cats fed, watered, scritchied, and loved
• Anyone I might, in my somewhat sleepless state, have forgotten at this moment

Love you all…

My dad

Walter George Dermatis, LTC (Ret)

February 27, 1929 - January 14, 2010

New story!

Ack! Almost forgot to remind everyone that my story "Santa Claus is Comin'" is up at Circlet Press today!

Fairy Tale Lust

Wow...it's beautiful!

And check out this magical TOC:

Foreword by Angela Knight
Introduction: Once Upon a Time…
The Obedient Wife by Delilah Devlin
How the Little Mermaid Got Her Tail Back by Andrea Dale
Ducking by Craig Sorensen
Three Times by Justine Elyot
Ellie and the Shoemaker by Louisa Harte
The Pub Owner’s Daughter by Alegra Verde
Sleep Tight by Janine Ashbless
Her Hair is a Net, Woven by Shanna Germain
Mind Your Peas and Qs by Allison Wonderland
In the Dark Woods by Kristina Wright
Gildi and the Unwieldy, Ineffectual Committee of Bears by Jeremy Edwards
Frosted Glass by Aurelia T. Evans
Gingerbread Man by Carol Hassler
All In a Day’s Work by Saskia Walker
Big Bad Wolf (An Excerpt) by Alana Noël Voth
The Kiss by Michelle Augello-Page
The Return by Charlotte Stein
The Stone Room by A.D.R. Forte

I'm humbled to be in this group of authors and I can't wait to read all the stories!

Merry

Blessed Solstice

Wishing everyone warmth, peace, and health on this longest night of the year. I am so grateful the light is returning..

The most wonderful…

…you thought I was going to say “most wonderful time of the year,” but I sing that song at Halloween. Christmas is a close second, but it’s still not where I was going.

Nope. The most wonderful husband in the world, and I have him.

I’ve gone back and forth about how much I want to say here. As I said in October, my dad’s cancer is terminal. Since then, the local medical community has essentially failed my mother as she’s tried to keep him comfortable and safe at home. He went back in the hospital with the beginnings of pneumonia, had a dose of chemo (to ease his pain), and is now back home. But there’s still not enough help and support while he’s there.

Ken left early this morning for upstate NY, for no other reason than to take care of my father and my overwhelmed mother. We’d been back and forth about who was going to go when—we knew we were going back over or near the holidays, and that one of my sisters would be there between Xmas and New Year’s. We thought we’d tag team, maybe with me going out first, or both of us and me staying longer. In the end, it worked best for him to go out now, and me to fly out Xmas Day (I’m getting in about an hour after my sister does, and he can pick us both us). He was going to fly back when she did, but we had to use every scrap of frequent flier miles we had to swing this, so we’re both flying home a week later. That’s three weeks for him, two for me. We left for the airport at 5:30 a.m. and he arrived at 11 p.m.—18 hours later.

To take care of my parents.

Yeah. He’s awesome. Awesomest. Don’t you dare argue with me about this.

~ ~ ~

Oh, and his talk went smashingly. He so rocks.

Wherever you go, there you are

I have a gmail account that I don’t use much except to set up Google Alerts for my various pseudonyms. This is largely to catch pirate sites that are illegally publishing my work, but it also occasionally catches reviews I’ve missed or a mention on someone’s blog. Today, I clicked through to find that the reference to me (as Dayle A. Dermatis) was in a description of The Trouble With Heroes on a library website. I have no idea where the Brazoria County Library System is (although Brazoria is a pretty cool name for a county), but I’m utterly chuffed by the fact that they’re carrying The Trouble With Heroes!