When Two Heads Are Better Than One

Check out today's Lust Bites column, written by yours truly and her dauntless coauthor Teresa. It's all about how we collaborate--something we get a lot of questions about! If we didn't answer them to your satisfaction, let us know!

Enjoy!

A Little Night Music cover!

Ooh! Lookie!

And what can I say to you to show how it feels?

Words Written: OOTFP edits
Writing Stats: caught up on the Lust Bites list
Exercise: hah

It’s a gloriously rainy, grey day, and yet it’s also one of those days where I feel like for every step I take forward, I’m sliding two steps back. One of those days where I hate e-mail, because people keep writing to me. I love it when people write to me, don’t get me wrong, but when they all need a response, and I’m already behind (still catching up from being away)…!

I guess there’s a part of me (the anal-retentive, moon-in-Virgo-or-whatever part of me) that wishes I had different e-mail addresses for all the different compartments in my life: friends & family, writing, Styx and Styxfest, SCA… But in the end, I’m sure that would drive me even more batty.

Do you all have days like that? Where you feel like you’re working and working but just spinning your wheels?

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Currently Reading: between books
Lately Listened To: Au Quebec, Home Field, Gowan
Recently Watched: CSI: Miami

But I thought I would say, I'm afraid I must disagree

Words Written: OOTFP 1210, edits
Writing Stats: Rejection from IGMS for “What Price Beauty?”
Exercise: does getting a 2-hour massage count?

So we did a candle making workshop on Saturday, and after we made a bunch of candles in Caidan blue for largesse, I made a bunch of different purple ones (rose-scented) for me. We also talked music, and our hostess, Mara, asked what three bands we wished we could’ve seen but never did. At first I drew a blank, because I’ve seen Styx 63 times so far, and what else is there? (Other than more!) But then I figured it out:

• Led Zeppelin
  
• Marillion’s Misplaced Childhood tour (which I could’ve seen, if only I hadn’t been distracted by a typo. My college newspaper listed a show in Montréal by “Silmarillion,” and I thought, “Nah, not the same band.” I found out the day after that it was. I’ve seen both Marillion with Steve Hogarth, and Fish solo, and while they were both fabulous, it wasn’t the same.)
  
• Any Gowan solo show in the ‘80s (Oh, to have met him when I was young and cute. Of course, when I was young and cute, I was mostly clueless about what to do with it. Sigh.)
  

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Yesterday I headed into the Valley in my spiffy new car for the LARA (LA RWA) meeting, where I accidentally volunteered to do a talk—but it won’t be ‘til the beginning of next year, which helps. It basically came from learning that the current speaker didn’t know about how to click to make the first page header of a document different from the rest of the headers. So I’ll be doing a “Word for Writers” talk, if they can swing a screen and hookup to a laptop. It shouldn’t be too very much work to set it up, I don’t think. Back when I worked at Sage Publications, when we switched from a DOS-based word processing program to Word, I taught a series of classes on “Word for Production Editors and Copy Editors,” and I’m sure I can pull some of that forward. I’m sure I have those files around here somewhere…

After that, the fabulous Christine and I headed to Lulu’s, where she met her hubby for lunch while I pulled up a chair at the writers’ table with the amazing Jenn and others. After Christine joined us, she and I booked our flights for RWA Nationals (so we could fly together, which is more fun!) and then settled down to work. Once I got going, the next scene in OOTFP just flowed. It’s times like that that make me especially love this crazy job.

In other writing news, I’ve made a somewhat difficult decision, although I’m feeling like a great weight has been lifted off me now that I’ve made it. I was slated to go to Seattle in May for a Novel Workshop, which meant I had to submit the novel by the beginning of April, as well as read two full novel manuscripts and about eight partials starting around the same time. When I first signed up, I thought I’d be working with DFL, but my heart’s just not in it…and then I was gripped by WSWL—only to discover that switching between light, comedic erotica and dark, menacing gothic romance was not working for me. And OOTFP has to be my first priority. That’s a promise I’ve made to my coauthor. So I finally accepted that I needed to give WSWL the time it deserved, not rush it for the workshop. (Not to mention the other things I have going on in May that will consume a part of my brain.)

So I’ll finish WSWL for the second quarter of the year, and all will be well. Teresa and I are on the last chapter of OOTFP, and it will be finished and winging its way to editors before the end of this month.

I can’t complain, really…

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Currently Reading: between books
Lately Listened To: RWA sessions
Recently Watched: The Dresden Files

Houston, we have connectivity

Words Written: er, none again
Writing Stats: Rejection from Superqueereos for the Sophie story “Pow! Bash! Yes, Yes!”, and from Weird Tales for “The Rising.” Pout
Exercise: none

We have achieved new cable modem and connectivity! Hurrah!

Despite the fact that I’m still exhausted, it’s been a pretty good day. Took poor pathetic Grimoire to the vet for his 6-month comprehensive, and he’s gained 0.7 pounds. I blame the cat sitters… Then I picked up the new cable modem and made that work, and pounded through e-mail and whatnot (and a bunch of necessary phone calls) before going to a chiro appointment, where I learned that my back crunching is a good thing, because it means things aren’t all seized up. Who knew? My back actually hurts a little less right now. Then there was food shopping, and talking to Ken, and tuna on rye with pickles and green chilies, and a lovely hot bath, along with lots more e-mail and work stuff.

So, my back feels marginally better, I love my new car, I love my GPS, I like my bathtub (it’s the house’s original clawfoot tub, which is wonderful, but it’s not quite deep enough for me), and I can get onto the Internet and work again. Yeah, it doesn’t all suck.

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Of course, just as I went online to post these last few entries, the cable went down. All of it, including the TV. Since my next goal is to curl up in bed, read, and then get a nice long night’s sleep, I’m skipping straight to Plan B…

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Currently Reading: Staying Dead, Laura Anne Gilman
Lately Listened To: Influence, Shaw/Blades
Recently Watched: Heroes

But what does it all mean?

Words Written: big fat zero
Writing Stats: Rejection from Fishnet for “At the Faire.” Phooey. Four stories mailed.
Exercise: walking

The Internet problems seems to be the cable modem. Will be calling the cable company first thing in the morning. Meanwhile, I spent four hours at the local Starbuck’s fighting with a crappy connection (because I was using an open wireless connection rather than paying for the T-Mobile thing), trying to catch up on work, submit stories that were due and otherwise handling writing-related stuff, and deal with some Styxfest issues.

That was after going to the DMV and trying to explain that I needed a temporary registration something-or-other because there’s a problem with the title to the new car that the dealership in NV is trying to sort out.

My lower back is crunching. That can’t be good, can it?

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Currently Reading: Staying Dead, Laura Anne Gilman
Lately Listened To: One With Everything, Styx
Recently Watched: The Dresden Files

Disconnected

Words Written: OOTFP 1016
Writing Stats: Received comp copies of C is for Coeds.
Exercise: um…

Dammit, for some reason I can’t connect to the Internet today. It seems to be a problem at the cable company’s end, but it’s been going on all day, and I have stuff that needs to be sent out and/or dealt with! Muttergrumble. Yes, I just spent a week and a half pretty much without access, just fine—but it meant that a number of things didn’t get done that now need priority… Not to mention my part-time job, which I can’t do without being able to remotely access the company’s network.

I could go to an Internet café, but I keep hoping connectivity will return here. But have I spent the day writing like a fiend? Noooo… I’ve been doing every other little thing that doesn’t involve writing or the Internet. Got all the receipts into Quicken, ran Quicken reports for taxes, reconciled Quicken. Finished unpacking. Did dishes. I did do some minor edits on a story that’s now ready to send out…if only I could.

Of course, this also means that I don’t know when I’ll be able to post this entry anyway…

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Being very tired Monday night, I see I forgot to link to Cowboy Lover: Erotic Tales of the Wild West. So there you go. Order early and order often!

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Currently Reading: Staying Dead, Laura Anne Gilman
Lately Listened To: Big Bang Theory, Styx; RWA session
Recently Watched: The Ri¢hes

Away and home

Words Written: “The Light at the End,” ~600
Writing Stats: Received, signed, and prepped to mail two contracts: “Stranger to my Shores,” Paranormal Erotica anthology (as Sophie), and “When the Rancher Needs a Loan,” Cowboy Lover: Erotic Tales of the Wild West anthology (as Andrea Dale). Received a rather preachy rejection from Clarkesworld for “Seeds of Hope.”
Exercise: walking through airports

I’m at LAX, waiting for my slightly delayed flight to Oxnard to be called. I’m tired, so the delay especially sucks. They looked for a volunteer to give up his/her seat in exchange for a round-trip ticket anywhere in the US, and if I wasn’t so tired, I’d take it and just rent a car. Oh well.

Part of me doesn’t want to go home. I really wanted to stay with Ken in Portland for a few days, working and relaxing and easing back into reality rather than hitting it full speed. I don’t have that luxury, though… Plus I really miss the cats. And my chiropractor and my massage therapist…

The week was incredibly successful and productive. Teresa and have two chapters left to finish OOTFP. (When we got there, we didn’t think we’d finish it there; then we thought we might; then we slowed down a little.) We’ll get the proposal in the mail this week, I think, and then get the draft finished and polished by the end of the month.

I also rewrote the beginning of WSWL, getting about 4000 words down (some new, some taken from the previous version). I realized it needed to be both darker and richer, and I had to start over to really weave that in—I needed that new info in order to be able to move ahead.

I also finished one story, which Teresa kindly critiqued and will be in the mail this week; wrote half of a joint Lust Bites article on collaboration; and started another short story on the plane today.

Everyone else at the retreat wrote lots of words and broke through barriers, and the energy was just amazing. Last time, we all stayed in our rooms to write, but when we hit the common area, we tended to hang out too much and not be productive. This time, we decided to try two optional two-hour quiet joint writing periods per day, from 10 a.m. to noon and 8 to 10 p.m. Well, the first day, all the women sat down and did it…and we never left. We did almost all of our writing in the common area all day, every day. Occasionally someone would hit their room for an hour or two, and Teresa and I did retreat to our room when we needed to brainstorm and confer. On the other hand, the two men in the group almost never came out of their rooms…

We ate out every night, with Kris & Dean and Chris and Steve, so we had lots of great seafood and great conversation. K&D invited us to bring take-and-bake pizzas and drinks to their place one evening, so I got to see how they’ve transformed the workshop house back into their home (they have two houses and one large office [former garage, I think] with several rooms). My usual bedroom is now Kris’s closet. That took a little getting used to…

It’s been almost exactly five years since I took my first OCW workshop, the Master Class, which changed the way I write and the way I approach and think about writing and my career. For a while, it seemed like nothing was changing, that it hadn’t had an effect. But five years on (and quite a few workshops later!), I’ve sold two novels and I’ve sold more short stories every year. It snuck up on me, strangely enough. But, as we discussed one night, you’re never satisfied. You’re always raising the bar, striving for a greater goal. To lose that would be to not need to write anymore. I can’t wait to see what the next five years will bring.

So we reluctantly left Lincoln City on Sunday after the weekly writerly lunch, swung by Hillsboro to pick up Ken, and went to an airport hotel to drop off Laura and get Teresa checked in. Then Ken, Teresa, and I went to the Kennedy School McMenamin’s to meet up with erotica author and fellow Lust Biter Shanna Germaine for dinner, drinks, and much laughter. Shanna’s a blast! Just a bundle of energy, with a great sense of humor, an incredible focus (she writes, edits, teaches…I can’t keep up with all of it!), and a keen mind. We sat there for hours, not wanting to leave despite how tired we were. We finally, reluctantly dragged ourselves away, and Ken and I didn’t get back to Hillsboro until after midnight.

So now I’m almost home, not wanting to get distracted by bills and e-mails and the rest of the real world. I’ve really got to focus if I’m going to get WSWL done in time for the novel workshop in May (manuscripts will be due in April so everyone has time to read them before the workshop). Plus I miss Ken. But he’ll be home towards the end of the month to pick up his new shiny motorcycle (he’s abandoning his beloved K1200LT for a sleeker, peppier GT), and then I may just ride back up there with him so I can spend my birthday in the Pacific Northwest.

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Home now. Despite the fact that I watched my suitcase get loaded onto the plane at PDX, it didn’t arrive with me at OXR. But they’ve delivered it, and all is well. I’ve picked up some groceries, eaten dinner, talked with Ken, watched a bit of TV, scritched the cats, and done some catching up in e-mail and whatnot. I’m exhausted, so I don’t think I have the brainpower to write any more today. I’ll just hit the ground running tomorrow…

Despite some things, it’s good to be home. In part because there’s still Styx confetti all over my bedroom floor…

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Currently Reading: Staying Dead, Laura Anne Gilman
Lately Listened To: Big Bang Theory, Styx; RWA session
Recently Watched: Without a Trace

Trying hard to suppress a laugh...

It’s been an insanely busy few weeks, including six Styx shows in a week and a half—we went to Vegas for two of them, too. I just finished up typing all my “concert tales” for Sarah, and I easily wrote over 5K words. Now I need to channel that productivity back into fiction!

The shows were awesome, and I got much love from my boys, although I didn’t get stuck in any elevators with them again. (Pout.) We did get into the Foundation Room after the Hollywood House of Blues show, and I got another picture with Lawrence, just because. Inexplicably, I look like I’m two inches shorter than him.

The other big news is that I bought a car! My previous car, a sweet Eagle Talon that I love dearly, is 11 years old, and it has been showing its age. We were already talking about test driving some cars when the passenger’s door handle broke, leaving me in fear that the driver’s side door handle would break and I’d be reduced to climbing in through the hatchback.

We had about six or seven cars on our “possible” list, but we test drove only one: the new Saab. I had a Saab years ago, and loved it. A new one was out of our price range, but Ken did a bunch of research and found a used one in, of all places, Henderson NV, near Vegas. Where we were going anyway.

So now I’m the ecstatic owner of a 2002 Saab 9-3 hatchback, green (!), fully loaded, with amazingly low mileage for its age. The only downside was having to caravan back from Vegas, but we made do. Now I’m mulling over license plates…I’m leaning towards a Styx-related one, in part because MOUETTE is already taken. (What’s up with that? I made up that name!)

I’ll post pictures soon. I can’t do so for two weeks, though, because I’m currently on a plane to Oregon for another book-in-a-week workshop. Teresa’s coming with me, and we’re going to get a good chunk done on OOTFP, as well as a joint article on collaboration for Lust Bites. I’m also planning on getting back into WSWL with a vengeance, and possibly getting a couple of short stories done, too.

That starts Sunday. Today we picked up Teresa and introduced her to the wonder that is Powell’s. I mostly stuck to my list (I went online last night and checked to see what used books they had in stock)… We had amazing Indian food with Lev and Gayle and Jessa, then dropped Teresa off at her hotel. Now I’m finishing up a few Internet-related things before I lose access (I’ll pop to the Internet café in Lincoln City once or twice, but mostly to check for anything urgent).

And we watched the VH-1 special on the new Shaw/Blades album, Influence. Out March 6!

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Currently Reading: The Rival: Book Three of the Fey, Kristine Kathryn Rusch
Lately Listened To: I have one of Styx’s new songs, “Everything All the Time,” stuck in my head on WRDH
Recently Watched: How I Met Your Mother

New essay by me at LustBites!

I sometimes get the question (most recently, I believe, from Christine), "Do you ever get bored of writing erotica?" Well, if you want to know the answer, come on over to LustBites, wherein today's post I try to answer just that.

Leave a comment there and let me know what you think! Did I answer the question? Do you have anything to add or suggest?

And while you're at it, leave a comment on our Valentine's Day giveaway post, and you'll be eligible to win one of three goody bags chock full of sexy romantic books, including Cat Scratch Fever (UK edition) and Sex in Public, which contains a Sophie story, a story by my coauthor Sarah J. Husch, and more!

Whose idea was this, again?

Words Written: over the week, WSWL, ~5000; OOTFP, ~250
Writing Stats: Reviewed 250 proof pages of A Little Night Music, conferred with my fabulous coauthor Sarah, and then spent an hour and a half typing all the changes into an email for the wonderful editorial assistant Donna. These proofs were a lot cleaner than CSF’s; the copy editor this time did not try to run all of our paragraphs together, for one thing. On the down side, we found a number of very embarrassing errors that we made. Sigh!
Exercise: yoga

I’m sorry this has turned into a weekly journal. Is that why nobody comments anymore? (I confess I do feel a little unloved.)

Sigh. This week everyone was talking about Valentine’s Day, and my beloved was far away. But he called me several times on the day itself, and I got a lovely gift in the form of his flight itinerary for next week—he’s coming home on Tuesday rather than Wednesday! An extra day! We’re planning an intimate dinner at (Fusia), the swanky Japanese restaurant at the Luxor in Vegas when we’re out there the following weekend. And I’ll give him the cards I bought him a month ago, but in the current flurry of busy-ness I forgot to mail….

So. Yeah. Busy. Whose brilliant idea was it to start a new novel (tentatively titled With Soft Whispers Laden) at the same time that proof pages arrive and I’m working on two collabs (one novel, one novella) with Teresa? Oh, right, my own damn fault. Actually, I decided to start the new novel the day before the proofs arrived (I probably shouldn’t have been surprised by them, but the fact is I didn’t have them on my calendar, so still my fault), but still. I have 34 days total to write the novel (in time to submit it for the novel workshop I’m attending in May), not counting days off for concerts or the time in Oregon for BIAW. I know I will end up working on it in Oregon, because Teresa and I will be passing our project back and forth, but I’m considering those bonus days. And thank goodness for them, because I’m already behind.

Hell, it’s 10:15 p.m, I just sent the proof changes off, and I still need to work on Chapter 6 of OOTFP and on WSWL, and I’m getting a headache and all I want to do is lounge in front of the TV watching The Dresden Files. Gahhh. Oh crap, I have to clean the cat boxes, too. (Pun intended.)

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In other news, I was very happy to be at the computer when I got the e-mail from Loreena McKennitt’s mailing list about the concert presale. Of course, I got the e-mail after the tickets went on sale, but I managed to snag Row Q, which isn’t bad (when it’s not Styx, that is). I could’ve gotten Row N with two tickets, but I could get four seats in Q, which means we can go with friends. Whew. Goddammit, but I’ve been waiting for her to tour the U.S. since what, 1995? (She came to the Ventura Theatre that time. Blew. Me. Away.)

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Morgana and I did see the tall ships, and we got to say hello to a friend of a friend (Cassie, friend of Gayle & Lev) who works on The Hawaiian Chieftan. I took pictures that will hopefully inspire me to finish writing a pirate story that’s due at the end of the month…

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I think we’re going to have rain tomorrow, maybe thunderstorms. Which would be beyond lovely. Yesterday it was in the 80s, and it was awful…

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Currently Reading: Just finished Ysabel, Guy Gavriel Kay. Sigh. Sigh. Now I feel the need to reread The Fionavar Tapestry, then read Ysabel again. And then maybe move on to A Song for Arbonne, and… Sigh.
Lately Listened To: Piano Recital, Daniel Levy; Music in the Age of Leonardo da Vinci, Ensemble Claude Gervaise (I can’t listen to music with words while I’m proofreading)
Recently Watched: Without a Trace, Prime Suspect 3

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day! And you know what Valentine's Day means, right? That's right, sexy books!

Come on over to LustBites, where our vivacious group of Black Lace and Cheek authors are holding a giveaway. In the upper right of the picture, you can see a British copy of Teresa's and my very own Cat Scratch Fever. I know you have a copy already, but why not try to win one for a friend? You'll get a fabulous goody bag of other books, including Sex in Public, which contains the Sophie story "Make Me Come at the Ball Game"! (It's not even out in the US until April, so here's your chance to read it early!)

All you have to do to win one of the goody bags is to leave a comment over at LustBites. Nothing fancy, nothing profound. Just say "hi," and you'll be entered in the drawing.

As if that isn't enough, there's also a fun little quiz--can you figure out which statement is true or false about each of the authors. Most importantly, how well do you know me: do you know if Sophie Mouette's "fact" is true or false? ;-)

So please stop by. It would make my day if one of my friends won a prize!

Fear my power

Words Written: ~1700 words notes on a new novel (ack!)
Writing Stats: Prepped and/or mailed a total of 12 stories.
Exercise: up and down the stairs I go…

Woke up about 8 a.m. today, decided that was way too early, and went back to sleep for a couple more hours. Had weird dreams and woke up with a crick in my neck. It’s all a trade-off.

But boy howdy, have I had energy today! I worked. I made a loose menu plan for the week, made a list, and did a big grocery shopping. I did two loads of laundry (still have to put ‘em away, though). I finished prepping and/or mailing a total of 12 stories. My e-mail in box is mostly down to reminder e-mails (as opposed to things I have to answer—I have only one of them left to go).

Dangnabbit! And only a few hours later, a story gets rejected. Muttergrumble. Back to the drawing board. (Update a few hours later: back in the mail. Fear my story submission power!)

Aaaand, that novel that was bugging me the other day? Crap. I may have to write it sooner than I thought… No idea where I’m going to fit it into the schedule, but hey, that’s why I said this year was all about flexibility, right?

Right?

Meep.

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Currently Reading: Ysabel, Guy Gavriel Kay
Lately Listened To: Mirror Mirror, Lorraine a’Malena; The Open Door, Evanescence
Recently Watched: Nora Robert’s Montana Sky, Monarch of the Glen

The week that was

Words Written: OOTFP, ~500
Writing Stats: Received rejection from Æon for “Matchmaker”: “It was a hoot, but it didn’t quite his the mark for us…” It’s one of those stories that gets close, but never quite hits the mark. Someday it’ll find a home…! Updated anthology list. Mailed “Always a Bridesmaid” to Purple Panties. Prepped 9 more stories to mail. Made notes on a new novel.
Exercise: taking it easy because my hip’s been hurting

Busy week! Ken left Monday, but came back because of bike issues. He swapped out the broken center stand for a new one, bought a new tire on Tuesday morning, and then he was really on his way. (Pout, sigh.) Tuesday evening I trotted off to Morgana’s for sewing. Albra needed help with some costuming for Estrella, so I did handwork on a Turkish coat for Her Majesty, then worked on a kumihimo cord after that.

Wednesday I spent writing and working, although I had another lovely massage…

On Thursday, I helped Morgana finally finish painting her meditation room, a project that’s dragged on far, far too long. Our friend Pat did an amazing mural on all four walls of the room, but we had to touch up some trim and whatnot. In total, it didn’t take very long, but now it’s done! We tidied up in there and toasted our success. That evening, I had dinner with Morgana, Brian, and Jeff at The Urban Café (I had a grilled chicken and cilantro sandwich that was quite amazing), and then we met up with Eric at the theatre and saw Monty Python and the Holy Grail on the big screen. (I’ve never seen it in the theatre, so it was a great experience!) Unfortunately, I’d been fighting off a headache all day, and by the end of the movie I was feeling rotten. I got home, talked to Ken, and went to bed with lots of drugs and a heating pad.

The headache, nasty as it was, was pretty much gone by the time I crawled out of bed yesterday, which was a very good thing. I got a bunch of work done, tweaked a story for an anthology, that sort of thing. Then I caught a ride up to Ojai, where some of our local SCA group members were making and serving dinner for the homeless. (We used the hall for our Shire Twelfth Night feast in December, and were happy to “give back” and do something for the hall and the community.) On the way home I picked Elyramere’s brain about gardening things, and I think I’ve decided to put a hedge of cape honeysuckle along the wall where the eucalyptus trees used to be. Easy to care for, happy in our horrible soil and lack of water and lots of sun, and as an added bonus, attracts hummingbirds. :-)

I then proceeded to prep nine stories to mail, although I still have to e-mail some and envelope others, etc. I’ll get that done this weekend.

Stupid headache came back today, or maybe it was a new one triggered by the champagne I drank last night. So I’ve been groggy and logy and unproductive for the most part.

I’d hoped to go see the tall ships that are in port right now, today, but Morgana’s sick. She suggested I call Tomi, but I decided my headache made me not want to go anywhere. As it was, I crawled back into bed this afternoon with the heating pad and drugs and Ysabel, and then dozed for a bit, thinking about a novel I want to write, probably this year. At some point (last night or this morning; it’s all a blur…) I also may have figured out the solution to a short story that’s been fighting me—which is good, because it’s due at the end of the month.

So I’ve spent a quiet day working and writing and watching TV, and now I’m off to curl up in bed with the heating pad (just ‘cause it feels good!) and Ysabel. Maybe I’ll come back out tomorrow, and maybe I won’t… [g]

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Currently Reading: Ysabel, Guy Gavriel Kay
Lately Listened To: One With Everything, Styx and the Contemporary Youth Orchestra
Recently Watched: Heroes, CSI, Monarch of the Glen, Monty Python and the Holy Grail

It's here!

The new Guy Gavriel Kay book is in my hot little hands. Dammit, I'm not going to get anything done this weekend…

Alphabetical extravaganza

Here's the book description for C is for Co-Eds, one book of a new anthology series I (as Andrea Dale) have stories in:

A Is For Amour, B Is For Bondage, C Is For Co-Eds and D Is For Dress-Up kick off a new series from Alison Tyler and Cleis Press. From Amour to Zippers, this alphabetical extravaganza of erotic delights features 26 hot volumes of explicit, playful stories.

Campus cuties suddenly away from home explore new sexual delights in this charming collection. With stories like “College Reunion” by Andrea Dale and “While She Was Dancing” by Thomas S. Roche, who’s got time to study?

Teresa has a story in one of this first set as well, and as Sophie we've sold a story to the forthcoming H is for Hardcore. They're publishing them in sets of four, so I don't have guidelines for all of them yet.

Fun series, really fun covers! Remember, Valentine's Day is coming—you and your sweetie could snuggle up with one of these lovely books...!

Corpse flower

Please, somebody in the UK, go and sniff this thing for me in my stead! I sooooo want to be there!

Warm Weather Prompts Corpse Flower to Boom Early

Imbolc energy

Words Written: “Burning Bright partial: 646; “Burning Bright” synopsis, words and edits
Writing Stats: Received rejection from PitchBlack, which is going out of business, for “The Queen’s Gardener.” Received payment for "College Reunion", to appear in C is for Coeds.
Exercise: walking with Morgana

Happy Imbolc, albeit a day late! And happy full moon! Wooh, that was some great energy yesterday! It seems to mostly be bleeding over into today, although being woken from a sound sleep by my mother calling this morning (8:30 a.m., half an hour before my alarm was due to go off—I tend to work late into the night) didn’t help. (My parents are fine. They just got to Myrtle Beach, where they winter, and my mother couldn’t get her dial-up to work. Sigh.)

Jury duty is over! What a relief. Don’t get me wrong—I’m very glad I had the opportunity to serve, and would do so again in a heartbeat. I’ve always believed in how crucial it is for our justice system, and this experience really hammered that home. I was so impressed to be debating in a jury room with 11 other intelligent, well-spoken, thoughtful, and reasonable people. Just because we didn’t agree (and I was outvoted on both counts) didn’t mean we weren’t polite and rational.

Still, the experience was stressful on many levels. Litigation is simply stressful. It’s a conflict, and while we’re dealing with it in a civilized way (a trial), it doesn’t mean that there isn’t high emotion. (This was a civil trial, BTW, in case I hadn’t mentioned before.) So there’s lots of negativity in the courtroom, and deliberations had a level of stress because we didn’t agree, and we also had a major time constraint. It turned out this was the second time they’d tried to have this trial—the last time, one of the parties fell ill enough to be hospitalized. We went through all three of our alternates, and then one of the jurors found out she had to fly back east on Wednesday for a funeral. Originally we’d been scheduled to be there Tue-Fri this week, and that was with a bit of extra padding. But then we had to regroup and do Mon-Tue. The lawyers even sped up to accommodate us, and we went to the jury room late Mon afternoon, and then had all day Tue. But we didn’t look as though we were going to come to a resolution by late Tue afternoon (in a civil trial, it has to be at least 9-3)… Thankfully, we did, and then I raced home to check on Grimoire, and then I was pretty much braindead and headachy for the rest of the evening.

Grimoire is doing fine, BTW, and thank you all for your well wishes. His problem has altered to the level of being the opposite problem, so on the advice of the vet I’m scaling back on the laxatives. The best news is, he’s lost weight! About six months ago, he topped the scales at 21.1 lbs. Saturday he was 19.7, and Wednesday, at his re-check, he was 19.3. According to his chart, he should be between 18 and 19 lbs, so that’s significant progress.

Speaking of significant progress, it’s been wonderful to get back into the flow of writing. Teresa and I had a hugely productive phone call yesterday; a novella proposal we’ve been working on will be ready to send this weekend. She also helped me brainstorm past a block I’ve had on a short story that needs to be sent this weekend (I got a brief extension on the deadline from the editor).

Today’s artwork is our inspiration artwork for the novella we’re working on. The novella’s about an Indian demigoddess who shapeshifts into a tiger, not a leopard, but otherwise the painting perfectly evokes what we’re trying to do.

It’s a new month, and I’ve been reviewing those writing projects and goals again. I made a list of novels and novellas for this year, with deadlines (both firm outside ones and target personal ones). I know I still need to be flexible—there’s one novel with a deadline of "???" because we haven’t heard back from the editor—but it’s good to see the list on paper, and get a sense of goals.

The beginning of this month looks very nice: a few little projects and fun things here and there, like helping Morgana finish painting her meditation room (finally!) and seeing Monty Python and the Holy Grail at the cheap theatre in town and working on a new sewing project (which is a secret). Then, towards the end of the month, Ken’s coming home and we’re going to five (possibly six) Styx shows! Whee bouncity bounce!

Immediately after that, I’m heading up to Portland, and thence out to the coast for another book-in-a-week retreat. Even more fun, Teresa will be joining me! We’ll finish up a novel and possibly the novella, or something like that. We’ll know better what we need to work on by the time we get there. Since we may not be able to work on our joint projects simultaneously (what one writes may affect what the next writes), I plan to work on some solo stuff, too. No idea what, yet. I have some ideas, but no concrete plans…

Plus there’ll be walks on the beach and great dinners and conversations with Kris and Dean and all the other writers, and a day or two on either end to spend time with my beloved.

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Speaking of my beloved, he’s coming home for the weekend! He arrives Saturday late afternoon, and will probably head out Monday. He misses the motorcycle, so he’s going to ride back up. I’m torn between wanting to run errands (like car shopping) and just curling up with him. Or going for a bike ride. I’ve been having some serious wanderlust recently.

Of course, before he arrives I have to write a short story, go food shopping, and meet with a friend to help him target markets for his artwork. And shower, and eat some food, and drink some tea…

Have a fabulous weekend, everybody!

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Currently Reading: The Rival: Book Three of the Fey, Kristine Kathryn Rusch; Losing My Virginity: An Autobiography, Richard Branson
Lately Listened To: Long Distance: The Best of Runrig
Recently Watched: Gormenghast, Monk

Silk or leather or a feather

Words Written: at least 500/day during the week on various projects
Writing Stats: “Heaven Has Eyes” made the first and second round of cuts at Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine. (This is the third or fourth story of mine to do so, but I’ve yet to sell to them.)
Exercise: see below

Not the best of weekends. Friday night/Saturday morning, starting at about 2 a.m., Grimoire starting yarking. Only one small hairball, the rest just…well, to be polite, I’ll just say liquid. Never a lot at one time. Then, at 8:45 a.m., my phone rang. The tree guy, saying he wouldn’t be out today because it was raining. (The tree guy is coming out to remove four eucalyptus trees and one stump, and to seriously trim back our out-of-control lemon tree.) Said tree guy was supposed to have called Friday evening to confirm he was coming out on Saturday, which he hadn’t done… So I crawled out of bed, pulled myself together, called the vet, and hauled Grimoire in.

Long story short, he was seriously constipated. Poor thing. He spent the day at the vet being knocked out, tested, and X-rayed. He came home Saturday night, barely able to walk in a straight line. I had to take him back in today for a follow-up, and was sorry to report that he hadn’t pooped overnight. So he spent half a day at the vets, getting, um, cleared out. But today they also found he had a bladder infection. So now he’s on two medications… Even with the vet’s monthly care plan, this wasn’t cheap. But the most important thing is, he’ll be fine.

Suffice to say, I’ve been distracted and worried, and didn’t sleep well last night. (I slept on the foldout sofa in the media room because I knew Grimoire wouldn’t be able to make it up the stairs, much less onto the bed, in his post-anæsthesia drunken condition.) So this weekend has mostly been a bust where work has been concerned. I’ve been able to work only on semi-mindless projects, like house-straightening and bill-paying and e-mail catch-up.

Morgana did come over this evening, though, and we watched a biography of Marie Antoinette that we’ve been meaning to see. Since I know next to nothing about French history, especially post-1600 (it’s an SCA curse), I found it fascinating. Now I need to add the Marie Antoinette movie to my Netflix queue. That and The Affair of the Necklace, which I thought was on there but apparently I’d forgotten to add previously.

After that, we watched the Adam Ant videos I’ve been collecting for her (when one shows up on VH-1 Classics, I record it and then dump it to tape), which led to us looking info up online… It’s a slippery slope, I tell you. (Not a slippery slop, which is what I first typed. Ew.)

Oh, and I’ve also watched the first half of the BBC miniseries of Gormenghast. I’m ashamed to admit I’ve never read the books, although I own an omnibus edition. Anyway, weird stuff.

I’m still reading Kris’s Fey series, still not sure exactly where I left off the last time I was reading it and apparently got distracted by a shinier book. I’m also devouring Richard Branson’s autobiography, which makes me laugh out loud as I wait outside the courtroom to be called inside. The other jurors are patient with me.

Speaking of jury duty, they’ve changed our schedule, and we should be done by Tuesday afternoon. Both sides have rested their cases, and we’ll have closing arguments tomorrow morning, followed at some point (I’m assuming tomorrow) by jury instructions. It will be nice to finish up early (we were originally scheduled to start on Tuesday and end at the latest on Friday), because thanks to my sweet baby boy kitty, I’m now behind on most everything.

Give your kitties extra scritchies tonight!

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Currently Reading: The Rival: Book Three of the Fey, Kristine Kathryn Rusch; Losing My Virginity: An Autobiography, Richard Branson
Lately Listened To: Banba, Clannad
Recently Watched: Gormenghast

Too Stupid to Live?

I have my first essay up at LustBites—please stop by and check it out, and post a comment or two!