Updatey-do

Oops. Didn’t mean to drop off the radar there!

Writing Challenge Update:

Kinda tanked on that one. :-( 3K the first day. 1K the second day, every last word of which was forcibly chiseled out of my brain by a one-armed dwarf wielding a broken pick-axe. Basically, I couldn’t figure out the crisis/turning point. On Day 3, I worked at CB&TL with Tanya, who at the end of our session listened to me wail and came up with a partial solution. I wrote about 500 words that day, then not enough to count on Thursday and Friday. Bleah. I took the weekend off, did admin work on Monday, and wrote 500+ words last night.

Today? Must. Finish. Story. because it has to be mailed ASAP. I’m at CB&TL now. Wish me luck.

Fitness Update:

Much better success to report here! We basically hit our goals every day last week (except for abs/back work on one day), including getting up early on Saturday to hit the gym before we got on the road. Sunday was our off day (it’s a 6-day/week program), but I think rocking out to Styx counts as some exercise.

I felt mostly awful this past Monday, so we had an “Active Rest” day. The idea is that on day there’s no official cardio workout, you still try to fit a little extra cardio into your day: if you work in an office, get up once an hour to stretch and walk around; park at the far end of the parking lot; take the stairs instead of the elevator. That sort of thing. So we scrubbed and cleaned the upper part of the house, which included removing almost everything from the bathroom.

Ken reports that he’s lost 3 lbs. I seem to have gained 2. But I’m officially weighing myself/taking measurements only once a month, so I really don’t care. What’s important is that I feel so much better already. My hip doesn’t hurt at night, I’m more limber, I have more energy.

Everything Else Update:

Saturday we headed to Upland to spend some time with our friends Nanci and Lenny. We all went out to dinner at a British pub, and then Lenny went off to his evening job, and the rest of us enjoyed the music of up-and-coming band MeVsMe.

The next morning, we were up bright and early (hah) to head to the Fontana Raceway. Not because any of us have a whit of interest in NASCAR, but because Styx was playing a morning show there.

Oh, and one song was televised. :-) Look, Ma, I'm on TV!

We had lunch with a bunch of friends afterwards…or, sort of. Originally it was to be the four of us, and I requested The Old Spaghetti Factory, and everyone was amenable. Then it grew to nine of us, and three people didn’t want to go to TOSF, and I wanted to be accommodating. A local restaurant was chosen, which turned out to be a glorified Denny’s and was, unsurprisingly, packed on a Sunday at brunch/lunchtime. So in the end, we didn’t all get to sit together, which was the point of doing lunch together. (We were split into two booths.) The food was okay, but uninspiring. Sigh.

After that, we went to visit our friends Dianna and Ron and Eleanor, and had a lovely afternoon seeing their new house, chatting, having a yummy light supper of tabouli salad over spinach, hummus, pita, olives, baklava, and wine (the latter two items being our contributions). Eventually we were forced to tear ourselves away and get home and feed the cats, who were quite happy to have us do that.

Okay. To work now. Wish me progress!

So happy

I don't even have the words to describe how beautiful this cover is. All I know is being in it makes me so happy I could weep.

(Click on it to see it bigger. The bigger version doesn't want to center properly on this page.)

12 weeks isn't that long, is it?

Ken and I have embarked on a 12-week fitness program. We both get bored going to the gym and doing the same things, and I work better when I have clear goals (well, when I’m being told what to do, which is why having a trainer is my best bet. But I can’t afford a trainer right now, and having a website tell me what to do on a particular day is a reasonable substitute for my brain.) We’re focusing on the workout/fitness portion, not so much on the food portion, because we already eat reasonably healthy (when we plan good meals ahead). I’m loosely tracking what I’m eating to get a sense of where I’ve slipped, but I’m not sure if I’ll do any calorie-counting. That tends to make my brain unhappy, too.

Today was our third day, and for me, at least, it’s going great. It definitely helps to have a plan, because I don’t want to skip a day and fall behind, or do less than what the day’s routine calls for. It helps, too, to plan with Ken when we’re going to the gym. My previous workout partner got too busy, and I couldn’t find anyone else in the area who was interested. (Once I’m at the gym, I’m usually in good spirits and enjoy cranking on those endorphins. It’s getting to the gym that’s my real bugaboo—and so far, this is definitely helping.)

After the 3 months, we might do the Couch-to-5K challenge, because he’s been considering running a marathon. I don’t know if my body can handle running again, but when I did run, I actually enjoyed it a lot. So we’ll see.

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!

----

*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?

---
*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!

Best best best!

Wowsa! The inestimable Violet Blue just released her “Best Sex Books 2009” list, and I have stories in three of the anthologies!

(Note: The above link is to SF Gate, the online version of The San Francisco Chronicle, so it’s safe for work in terms of no nudity, etc.. But this is still a list of fiction and nonfiction about sex.)

1. Playing With Fire: Taboo Erotica

2. Sweetest Kiss: Ravishing Vampire Erotica

4. Do Not Disturb: Hotel Sex Stories

And a big "rock on!" shout out to the fabulous editors who saw fit to buy my stories: Alison Tyler, DL King, and Rachel Kramer Bussel!

Sheer cussedness

Today, despite my emotional/psychological state, I managed to (a) finish and mail the requested short story I started yesterday and (b) wrote and mailed a very short (500 words) story for a contest. Granted, these things took me nearly all day to write, but the bottom line is that I was stubborn and finished the bastards.

Tomorrow I’m going to focus on submissions (one or two stories that need to go back out, as well as some novel subs), minor tweaking of an older story, and the gazillion other things on my plate. (Yes, I know I owe you an e-mail. And you, too. And you…)

Meanwhile, from an earlier entry I never got around to posting:

Sale! Fantasy story “The Devil Went Down to the Sunset Strip” to the anthology Retro Spec: Tales of Fantasy and Nostalgia. I haven't sold a lot of spec fic stories recently so this is especially exciting! The story’s about a hair metal groupie who saves her favorite band.

[They] were four talented guys. (They really were. I wasn’t just some starry-eyed groupie; I knew decent music and I knew stage presence.) Talented, yes, and awfully pretty, all of them.

And every last one of them was dumber than a post.

Hee.

Meanwhile, check out Circlet Press’s annual erotic advent! Every day, they’re posting a new short erotic SFF story—but the catch is each story is up for one day only (posted at about 1 a.m. Eastern).

My own story will be up on Christmas Eve, but I encourage you all to check them out every day! A great way to start or end your day this month. :-)

Baby steps

Ken's IBR talk

4:00 p.m.
Saturday, December 12th, 2009

BMW Motorcycles of Ventura County
830 Tourmaline Drive
Newbury Park CA 91320

The Iron Butt Association is a loose-knit group of riders dedicated to safe long-distance motorcycling. Entry into the club is obtained by documenting long-distance riding challenges, such as 1,000 miles in under 24 hours. Every two years the IBA hosts their premier event, the Iron Butt Rally. Billed as "11,000 miles in 11 days," this Rally tests the mettle of selected riders by sending them all across the US and Canada on a giant two-wheeled scavenger hunt. In fact, more people have gone into space than have completed an Iron Butt Rally.

Ken Meese has been riding ever since he snuck his parents' 125cc bike out of the garage as a teenager. He has logged several hundred thousand miles on BMWs and has ridden in Asia, Europe, and North America. Ken has ridden numerous Long Distance Rallies and Iron Butt certificate rides that have covered nearly every US state and most Canadian Provinces. 2009 was his first Iron Butt Rally, but definitely not his last.

This evening will be full of road tales, travails, and triumphs as Ken shares his experiences of competing in the ultimate motorcycle endurance Rally. In addition, Ken's Rally-prepped bike will be on hand so you can see just what it takes to survive on a BMW for 11 days and 11,000 miles.

For your reading pleasure

Check out Mansfield Park and Mummies by my friend Vera Nazarian!

Oh, is THAT what it is!

On my way home from the LARA meeting and book signing on Sunday, I was thinking about various projects, just letting them run around in my head. I’d like to have Ghosted ready for the Novel Workshop in February (provided I can swing the cost…eep), so it’s next on my plate in terms of big projects. I’m still unsure/unclear about some areas, so what I have to do (among other things) is lay all the scenes out on the table and let my subconscious figure out what goes where. So there I was I driving (singing loudly along with Rick Springfield’s Venus in Overdrive), and loosely pondering all this along with the concerns and fears that I wasn’t figuring it all out and I didn’t know what the hell a particular plot point had to do with anything when suddenly I realized it wasn’t just a clue, it was a parallel mystery/subplot that the protagonist had to solve in order to solve her bigger problem as well as her emotional arc.

Holy crap, dudes. My subconscious has been waiting a damn long time for me to figure that out.

So that was pretty nifty.

Then I got home and I was pondering the short story I need to write next. Fantasy, nostalgia about anywhere from the 1920s to the 1980s. I’d like to keep it to about 1K, so a new story in my WWII/Thirteen Treasures of Britain universe would take too much set up. We’ve been watching Penelope Spheeris’s Decline of Western Civilization II… Another “Duh!” moment. Early 80s, hair metal, the Sunset Strip, a groupie who saves her band from selling their souls to the Devil…

Just finished writing it. :-)

Now, on to brainstorming the next couple stories, so I can get them off my plate and get back to work on Ghosted!

Blurry, but it's all I've got!

From today's reading: Eden Bradley and Andrea Dale!

More reviews to blow my little mind.

I am…stunned at the latest crop of reviews that are coming in. (Thank you, Google Alerts!)

Here's another for "Devouring Heart" in The Sweetest Kiss: Ravishing Vampire Erotica:

"'Devouring Heart' is the only lesbian tale in the book and Andrea Dale presents a heartbreaking tale of love and how far a lover will go to keep a partner. There is a good use of metaphor between the title and the relationship and this is one of the few tales that ends sadly, yet I have a tender place for this as one of my favorites for evoking that aching sense of love and love lost."

And this about "If the Shoe Fits..." in The Trouble With Heroes:

"And Dayle A. Dermatis’s 'If the Shoe Fits' is a funny (and rather ingenious) semi-modern twist on Cinderella, in which we find out why that shoe was really so important to everyone."

Thank you, kind reviewers. You're making a bad week much, much better!

Best Lesbian Romance 2010

When We Almost Met • Evan Mora

Coming Out Party • Anna Meadows
The Only Girl I Want • Sommer Marsden
Five • Cheyenne Blue
The Outside Edge • Sacchi Green
You Are a Full Moon Without Clouds • Pamela Smiley
Firsts • Hannah Quinn
Soaked • Erin O’Riordan
I Never Thought of Love • Jacqueline Applebee
Girls and Their Cars • Renée Strider
Hard to Hate Her • Kris Adams
Queens Up • Andrea Dale
Reclamation • Nell Stark and Trinity Tam
The Letting Go • Shannon Dargue
The Last Dance • Dalia Craig
All In • Radclyffe

Interviewed

Here's an interview with me about "Now You See Her," my story in Peep Show: Tales of Voyeurs and Exhibitionists. Enjoy!

Sometimes reviews can make me cry

"Singling out individual stories in this collection is hard because each of them is effective in its own way. However, one especially memorable story for me is the one lesbian story in this collection: “Devouring Heart” by Andrea Dale. In this heartbreaking tale, the good intentions of both vampire and mortal can’t make up for the communication gap between them. This relationship makes a valid-enough metaphor for real-life relationships in an incestuous lesbian community, and the story seems true to its literary roots."

The story is in The Sweetest Kiss: Ravishing Vampire Erotica.

The full review of the anthology can be found here. (At the same place is a review of Playing With Fire: Taboo Erotica, which doesn't specifically mention my story but is nonetheless lovely and positive.)

Now, where can I find reviewer Jean Roberta so I can kiss her on the mouth?

The Trouble With Heroes

It's out! It's out! Squee!

Dear Journal, how badly I have forsaken you! I have been so seduced by the immediacy of Twitter, the faux friendliness of Facebook, by the ease at which I can update those things from my iPhone. You have languished here, neglected—but never truly unloved, dear Journal. I can never quit you.

For those of you who haven’t been following the 140-character soundbytes…

I can’t thank my sister enough for flying out to NY just after I left; if she hadn’t, I was either going to stay, or my mother was going to forcibly toss me onto my plane home, in which case I still would have come to Florida, but I wouldn’t have enjoyed myself. My sister being there to help out meant I could turn off my brain for a few days and, in the words of a wise musician, just be.

Styx concerts are, in fact, one of the few times when I really can shut off my brain and just be, just experience, just exist in the moment and the music. When they stop touring, I’ll be in the market for a good therapist…

Anyway. In the past five days, this is what I’ve been up to:

• Flew to Florida to spend time with the incredible Helen and her beau Dave.
• Finished my CES story and turned it in.
• Sold a story.
• Went to Styx/REO Speedwagon/Nightranger concert #1. (Actually, that’s reverse order of how the bands went on!) JY had two backstage passes for Helen and Dave, but since Styx’s tour manager knows us (and it wasn’t a busy night, I suppose), he let us tag along. Got to chat with JY, Lawrence, and Todd. All three said they hadn’t really planned to dress up for Halloween, but Helen and I did tell Lawrence that if we were going to, he had to, too.
• Sold another story.
• Went to concert #2 dressed as a Ren Faire wench with my boobs up under my chin. Received appreciative looks from pretty much every member of every band. Lawrence threw me his water bottle. Dave Amato of REO tossed a pick into my cleavage when I wasn’t looking. (Great shot, but it bounced off and I had to fish it out from under the woven metal floor of the barrier. Being a tool user, I chewed a piece of gum and pulled it out that way. Meanwhile, Helen was giving him a thumbs-up.) For her part, Helen threw on a Hawaiian print dress and lei, and at a party store I found her a flashing flamingo pin and flamingo deely boppers. The deely boppers were also a huge hit with the bands. Ken went the Jedi route.
• Made some edits on the CES story and sent it back.
• Started a new story.
• Realized I couldn’t bring the water bottle home intact and was forced to drink said water. Last time I did that, I got the worst cold of my life. Here’s hoping that won’t happen again. Plus I do have several other pristine bottles from Lawrence for cloning purposes.
• Laughed so hard with Helen we couldn’t breathe.
• Was reminded time and again how incredible (and patient, and adorable, and smart) my husband is.

Now, after a long day of travel (and still discombobulated from this damnable time change), I’m home safe and sleepy, so I’m going to get a little more work done, watch something silly on TV, and pass out early. I’ve got a busy week of writing (not to mention a hair appt, a Shire meeting, and Coronation/Queen’s Champion) ahead of me!

Peep Show trailer

Here's a trailer for the recently released Peep Show: Tales of Voyeurs and Exhibitionists, which contains my story "Now You See Her" (a companion story to "Come to My Window," which is in Where the Girls Are: Urban Lesbian Erotica, although "Now You See Her" is het). Both stories are set in Montréal.

The video probably isn't safe for work unless you have a really understanding boss. Still, there's no direct nudity, and the excerpts aren't graphic. Enjoy!

Heading home

I fly home from upstate NY this evening, arriving after midnight in CA. I haven’t had a full night’s sleep in at least a week and a half, so by the gods, I’m sleeping in tomorrow. (Just try and wake me!)

My father is better, although his cancer isn’t curable. He’s getting stronger every day—everyone's amazed at how much he's able to do already. (He had a partial hip replacement the day after I got here, because the day I flew out they finally figured out he had a broken hip. That he'd been walking on for possibly up to a week. Which says a lot about my dad's right there.) He's also never lost his sense of humor. I’ve been writing down all his funny quips. More than once my mom and I laughed so hard we couldn’t breathe.

I can’t thank everyone individually, so I’ll have to do what little I can here:

Thank you. Thank you all for the notes and texts and voice messages, and for the thoughts and candles and prayers and energy. I felt them, and they helped more than you can imagine. I have the most amazing friends in the world!

I’m not going to discuss specifics/details here, but if anyone would like more info about what’s been going on, I’ll send a private e-mail.

(I would also like to credit the ZooBorns and Daily Kitten blogs for giving me warm fuzzy breaks the few times I’ve been able to snag some Internet access.)

Otherwise, it’s moving forward with researching hospitals and possibly clinical trials (if anyone has specific knowledge or info about osteosarcoma, please let me know). One of my sisters is flying here on Wednesday, and my other sister is exploring when it’s best for her to visit.

Meanwhile…

I got the first part of my latest CES assignment done here, and the customer was very happy with it. I’m a bit behind on my personal schedule for finishing the main story, but here’s hoping the person in front of me on tonight’s flight doesn’t put the seat back and I can hammer out a couple thousand words. It’s not due ‘til the end of the month, but we’re flying to Florida on Thursday, and I’d like to have it off my plate by then.

I’m feeling strangely energized about work, even in my exhaustion and stress. Part of it, I suspect, is that it’s an escape. Part, too, is the reminder that life is fleeting and fragile, and we have to grab it with both hands and fling ourselves into it. Damn the torpedoes, full steam ahead. We have a limited amount of time in this plane (of existence, not a particular flight, that is), so we might as well make the most of it.

The somewhat languishing Out of the Frying Pan revisions will come next, then some short stories and probably some article pitches that I’ve been meaning to do. I’m pondering some sort of NaNoWriMo challenge of my own in November; it doesn’t make sense to start a new novel right now, and I have a lot of smaller projects to do: stories to write, article pitches to write, novel submissions (more for Waking the Witch, starting the ones for Seasoned With Danger, writing the first few chapters of one or two more novels that I have pitches for and getting those circulating), a novella submission, maybe writing some novellas. Okay, maybe “writing some novellas” will get pushed into December. And probably the new novel chapters. ::gg::

We’ll see. We fly home from Florida on November 2. We have SCA events pretty much every weekend, plus Ken’s giving a presentation on his Iron Butt ride at the local BMW dealership in Newbury Park. Plus Thanksgiving. Plus my niece is coming to visit so she can see a show in Hollywood, and my sister and my other niece might be coming with her. All of which would be totally groovy.

Okay, now I really have to get some work done before my dad wakes up!

Change of plans

My father is very ill; I'm flying to NY tomorrow to help out my mom. I'll update when I can. If you need anything urgently, you can call me, or call Ken.

Any light/healing thoughts/energy/prayers you can send would be amazingly appreciated. Thanks.

What passes for normal around here

I worked out today for the first time in…pretty close to forever. But there’s no sense dwelling on that, so let’s just say Yay! for working out. Because I get bored doing cardio, I tried to break things up a bit: 10 min warm-up on the cross-trainer (level), back and abs, 10 minutes CT (program 1), arms, 10 minutes CT (program 2). I didn’t want to overdo it right out of the gate, so I kept the weights and/or reps low.

My goal is to work out again tomorrow and Saturday, because Friday and Sunday are more heavily booked. Speaking of being booked, we’d intended to see the Eddie Izzard documentary in LA this afternoon and then go to the In the Flesh reading, but I looked at my schedule, laughed hollowly, and cancelled all those plans. I got to play the last two weekends, and now it’s time to buckle down again. Here’s what’s going on:

Writing

• Tomorrow is the deadline for one fantasy/horror anthology and two erotica anthologies. For one of the erotica anthos, I’ve already submitted a story, but the editor said it might be too light for the overall tone of the book, so I’ve started another one. I should try to get that finished tonight. The other one is lower paying and I think my brain is already letting it go. I have an idea for the fantasy/horror story, and when I told Ken, he said “Ooh!” I just need to get my character sorted and toss her into the trouble.
• I have a CES assignment due at the end of the month, but today the editor said the client wants a 1.5K prologue to the story, very soon. Groovy. That’s next on the list.
• I have one OOTFP scene to finish and another to write, and then the partial goes back to Teresa.
• Thankfully, I have no other end-of-month deadlines other than the CES story (already turned in the story for the antho that closes then), but I do have two in mid-Nov and one at the end of Nov.

Home Stuff

• Need to put everything away from the War. All the laundry’s done and most of that’s already put away, thank goodness.
• Grocery shopping. Meals are planned through the end of the week. Farmer’s Market tomorrow morning. Edited to add: Went grocery shopping tonight. Check.
• Various other small things, like financial stuff. (Whoo, excitement.)

SCA

• I’ve got to have The Oak Leaf finished before I leave for Florida on 10/29, and I need to do it in little chunks, otherwise my tendonitis flares up.
• I’ve just got a little more beading left to do on one part of an Italian sleeve, and then I can assemble them. (The dress was finished in 1998 and then modified to fit me better earlier this year.) My goal is to wear it to Coronation the second week of Nov.

Fun Stuff

• Herbal Guild tomorrow night, to make presentation and Yule gifts. I need to check my list to see whom I’ve already bought gifts for, then decide what to make.
• Friday we have tickets (w/Morgana and Brian) to Spamalot in Orange County. We’ll head down early to skip traffic, and have dinner somewhere fun.
• I’m part of a group book signing after the LARA meeting on Sunday, and after that Nanci and Lenny are having one of their amazing parties, with Paperback Hero and Forever Vinyl performing.
• At the end of the month, two Styx shows in Florida! I get to see Helen again, yay! And then a group meet-up of Helen and Dave, Rik, Rowdy, Dean, and Ken and I!

The goodness again

(Picture from the concert, looking back at the masses of people...)

So I’m sitting at the departure gate, and a little boy in front of me—8 maybe? (I’m crap at judging ages)—spills a cup of water all over himself. I missed the actual spillage, just looked up to see the cup upside down on the ground and a rather morose expression on his face. Now, I have this thing about wasting unused napkins, and you never know when you’re going to need a napkin—like when you forget to pick up a couple when you buy your food and now you’ve got mayo on your face, or, like now, when you manage to fling your drink onto yourself. So I hauled out a handful and gave them to his dad. A moment later I heard the kid giggling with pure delight as his dad blotted his shirt from the inside (maybe it tickled?).

Then, as I was in line to board the plane, they called my name. Turns out I’d dropped my driver’s license. I boarded with a quiet sense of See, that’s how it’s supposed to work.

Same kind of thing at the show yesterday. There was a teenage girl in a wheelchair, a big Styx fan, and it was the first time she was seeing them. There was space next to me, so her dad maneuvered her in there, and I helped block random drunken idiots. The drummer for Eddie Money made a point of giving a drumstick to a security guard to hand to her, which I thought was awesome. I basically used my “You guys love me” fu to get her stuff from the band: First Lawrence’s water bottle (which he apparently wanted me to pour on myself; guess I looked sweaty. Or he has a shower fetish. Let’s go with the latter.) and then a Polaroid (making it clear it was for her), then a pick from Ricky. Made me happy. Well, happier, because being at a Styx show is just shy of pure nirvana for me.

And quite frankly, I need all of this. September was an unequivocally craptastic month on every front. I wrote an entry about it but I think I’m not going to post it. Release and move on. I may end up talking about pieces here and there, as I try to work through some of it. (Like the conviction that I’m somehow a bad friend, because for the second, or possibly third, time this year we’ve not been invited to a party hosted by people I thought were pretty good friends.)

Onwards.

~ ~ ~

So I was waiting in LAX to fly to PHX two days ago, and I checked my daily Tarot reading via the iTarot app on my phone, and it said “The jig will be coming up.” How beautifully apropos!

~ ~ ~

Why do I only drink orange juice when I’m on a plane?

~ ~ ~

Now Animotion’s “Obsession” is stuck in my head. Why? REO’s “Don’t Let Him Go” was far preferable. (Although you can’t really be annoyed by lyrics like “My fantasy has turned to madness/And now my goodness has turned to badness.”)

~ ~ ~

So, I have one day at home (plus this evening) before we leave for Great Western War on Wednesday. Of course we haven’t even begun to pack, which is a stressor right now. (One of our three meals is cooked and frozen, and Ken was in charge of the second while I was gone, so that’s something.) Still, I’m looking forward to it. A friend is getting his Pelican (highest-level award for service, and he deserves it in spades) and there will be friends to see and hug and laugh with. On a more somber note, there’ll be a memorial for an amazing, incredible woman who died last week. She touched the lives of everyone, and she was taken far too young, and I’m struggling with feeling angry at the universe for it.

We have to come home halfway through the war (which is about two and a half hours away) to give the cats subcutaneous fluids (and I’m also going to have a chiro appt), but I’m grateful that Eostre no longer needs twice-daily subcu fluids.

~ ~ ~

Starting our descent into LAX. Must go!

The good catches up

This morning, on the way home from Arkansas, Ken found a woman’s purse in a restaurant. He went to the trouble of putting it in the mail to her.

This afternoon, Ken’s wallet fell off the bike as he drove away from a gas station. Someone turned it in to the police station. The money (about $80) was gone, but all credit cards, etc., were intact.

Obviously we don’t know if the person who turned it in is the same person who took the money, but if it was, I’m going to assume s/he really needed that cash, and I’m okay with that.

The good really does catch up.

What the—

I was tired all day today (yesterday, actually, given when I’m posting this). I didn’t get to bed as early as I should, and got up early to carpool to Collegium. I haven’t been sleeping well anyway, and I was tired enough today that if I turned my head too quickly, I got seriously dizzy.

(That said, Collegium was much fun, even if I only took two classes. Got lots of drive-by hugs, and I carpooled with nifty people.)

So I went to bed early. I was in there by 9 or 9:30, I think (yes, that’s extremely early for me), and read for a deliciously long time, which meant I turned off the light around 10:30. I did have a little trouble getting comfy, especially given the cats were being particularly loving and adorable and taking up much more of the bed than their share. (Yes, I’ll accommodate my spot in the bed for them. They purr.) But what I’m saying is, Sleep Good.

Until 12:30 a.m.

That’s when the doorbell rang. We still have the original doorbell to this house, and it’s loud. Really, really loud. It’s a shrieking buzzing sort of thing that startles me in the best of times when I’m expecting someone. Waking me from a sound sleep? Terrifying.

Ringing, and repeated knocking. I’m trying to find clothes to throw on. I can’t even process. Ken’s safe in Arkansas, so it can’t be the police to tell me he’s been in an accident. Is it our tenant? Is her apartment/our garage on fire? There are no sirens (we’re only a few blocks away from the fire station). More ringing and knocking.

I finally get downstairs, get the porch light on, look out the window. I don’t see anybody. I cautiously open the door. Nobody on the porch, either.

Thankfully my neighbor—the one who speaks English—had just arrived home from work. She said there’d been a young girl at my door, on a cell phone, and then she took off down the street.

We stood outside talking for a few minutes as I willed my heart to stop pounding out of my chest. Other than that, the night was quiet. It’s taken me a couple hours to fully settle down.

So much for my early night and solid night’s sleep… But now I’m going to try again!

Do be do be do be over

Another bad thing: There’s a big multicultural celebration going on in the park so (a) loud Spanish is reverberating down the street into my house and (b) there are stupid people parked all around my house.

Okay, other good things, too:

• Morgana liked her birthday present (which I’m not going to describe because other people are getting similar ones for Yule).
• I picked up a jar of Patak’s Jalfrezi Curry sauce at the British shop (our local shop doesn’t carry it).
• Curled up and watched Must Love Dogs w/Ken whilst eating pizza and drinking wine. Movie was…scattered, but amusing enough. The best part was not having to think for a while!
• Now going to snuggle in bed with a good book and the cats (and Ken, natch), and then dream of a better tomorrow!

Requesting a do-over

Can we have a do-over, please?

I woke Ken up at 7:30 this morning because I was snoring. I’ve been having some weird breathing issues ever since I thought I was coming down with a cold last month—even though I can breathe fine through my nose, I’ve been mouth breathing, my breath catches on the way out at times, and I get dry mouth, meaning I have to get up several times a night to (a) drink water and (b) pee. Frack.

We went back to the thrift shop and the chair I wanted to buy was gone. We did pick up a filing cabinet for the sewing room, but the chair was the special thing. Frack.

We were running late but were ready just in time to meet up with folks to caravan to Santa Monica for Morgana’s birthday tea. Except I had it firmly in my head that it was at The Tudor House, when it was actually at The King’s Head across the street. Frack.

Found out someone had misinterpreted something I’d said and passed on misinformation as if it had been verbatim from me. Frack.

On the way back up the coast, Ken and I had a disagreement. Frack.

When we got to the bike dealer to pick up his loaner bike, they weren’t actually open until 5:30 (we got there at 5:17). They’d closed at 5, and don’t reopen until Tuesday. Ken’s supposed to fly home from Colorado Tuesday after returning the bike there. Which means he’ll now have to change his flight, which will cost money. Frack.

Also on the way, my car starting making a weird noise and smell. Still drivable, and we had to get it back to the dealer for a few other minor things next week, but this is also an added expense plus I can’t drive it to the LARA meeting in Encino tomorrow morning. Frack and double frack.

Oh, and while we’re at it? Four friends at the Styx show in Vancouver last night—the one where we had the offer of front-row tickets but turned them down because we were paying for an ailing cat instead—failed to call me during the show.

On the plus side, tea was lovely, and it’s overcast and cooler today. I suppose now I should throw caution to the wind and go down to my study and try to write…

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.