IPPY Finalists!

Edited to add: Holy smut, Batman! The anthologies tied for first place!  *\o/*


Wow! On the heels of having stories in several Lambda Literary Awards 2010 finalist books, I have stories in two IPPY (Independent Publisher Book Awards) finalist anthologies!

Do Not Disturb: Hotel Sex Stories, edited by Rachel Kramer Bussel (Cleis Press)

Sweet Love: Erotic Fantasies for Couples, edited by Violet Blue (Cleis Press)

Now, I don't presume to think my individual stories had a lot to do with the nominations—the editors of these amazing anthologies are really the ones who deserve all the credit for putting together such wonderful groups of stories. I'm just chuffed and humbled to be a part of them.

Like a Mask Removed is here!

Zowie! Bazinga, even!

Like a Mask Removed, a pair of erotic superhero anthologies from Circlet Press, is now available!

Teresa and I, as Sophie Mouette, have a story in Volume 2: Supervillains, called "Pow! Bash! Yes, Yes!" In the story, we explore what wearing the superheroine—and archvillainess—suits mean, and how exactly it is nobody can tell the difference between the "regular girl" and her alter ego.

Even more exciting: Circlet has chosen to run an excerpt from our story on their site as promo for the e-books! (Although it's not the steamiest part of the story, it's still probably NSFW, unless you have a really understanding boss.)

Like a Mask Removed is available from a slew of vendors in a range of e-formats, for your reading pleasure!

Geschlecht mit Fremden

Ooh! Just got word that Sex With Strangers, containing the Sophie Mouette story "Behind the Masque," has sold to Germany!


I did the above translation via Babelfish; I have no idea if that's what the anthology will be called in Germany. Or if the story will be "Hinter der Maske," for that matter :-)

Another weekend

Saturday

Blessed Beltane!

We’re hosting a party tonight for a friend celebrating her divorce being final. Not the smartest move on my part, since I’ve been feeling under the weather and have a mass of deadlines starting to crash around me. But I love my friends, and that means I just can’t help myself when it comes to doing nice things for them!

It’s potluck, but I always believe in making sure there’s a good variety of food already available, so here’s what we’ve got:

• sloppy joes in the slow cooker
• coleslaw (I’ve developed a great non-mayo recipe with white balsamic vinegar and a hint of wasabi)
• French bread with spiced oil for dipping
• wasabi almonds, regular almonds, and pistachios
• chocolate-chip oatmeal cookies (dough made, I’ll start popping them in soon)

Unfortunately, between that and cleaning the lower half of the house, I’m knackered and have a vague headache forming. Sigh. I just hope enough people show up!

Sunday

Aftermath…

Party was a success. A bit small, but everyone seemed to have fun, and that’s what’s important. I’m really glad we made the sloppy joe’s, because they were the only main dish, and the slow cooker was scraped clean (but we have a pile of buns left). The coleslaw also mostly got eaten, which was nice; the last time I brought it to something, it didn’t get as much attention. For my part, I discovered that it tasted fantastic on my sloppy joe!

The wasabi almonds were startling to people who popped them in their mouths without realizing what they were. Morgana’s expression was priceless…

I was pretty much dead all day today, though. Dammit. I dealt with some e-mail, didn’t quite finish The Oak Leaf (realized I had to go to the copy shop to have something scanned, but didn’t have the energy to actually go…), read for a bit, called my sister to wish her a happy birthday. Then, after dinner (burgers, made out of cow rather than turkey, because red meat is what I need in my current physical condition), I finally started to perk up, and ended up in the living room where I wrote 1K on the CES story and worked on an editing proposal while Ken napped.

We roused ourselves long enough to give the cats subcu fluids, and Ken crashed and I’m still working…which is probably not the best idea, given the hour. Someday I’ll learn to just stop scheduling anything before noon, and accept the fact that I work best between 11 p.m. and 3 a.m.

Today is not that day, so I’m off… G’night!

Reading: Finalists for the LAMBDA Literary Awards

I'm delighted to announce that I have stories in not one, but two anthologies that are finalists in the LAMBDA awards! Both Lesbian Cowboys: Erotic Adventures (containing my story "Queens Up") and Where the Girls Are: Urban Lesbian Erotica (containing my story "Come to My Window") are nominated in the Lesbian Erotica category.
The award ceremony itself will take place in NYC at the end of this month, but before that, there will be West Coast reading at Skylight Books. I'm thrilled to have been asked to be a part of the reading. If you're in the area, please considering stopping by:
Monday, May 10 7:30 p.m.
Skylight Books 1818 N. Vermont Avenue Los Angeles, California 90027 Google Maps link
“The first Lambda Literary Awards were presented at a black-tie gala ceremony in 1989. Every year since then they have been awarded to the finest lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans literature available in the United States. The “Lammy” is the most prestigious, competitive, and comprehensive literary award offered specifically to LGBT authors. For more than two decades the Lambda Literary Awards has brought attention to and honored exceptional writing about queer lives across multiple genres published by large and small presses. If a book has a gold sticker saying ‘Winner of the Lambda Literary Award’ on its cover, you know it is both brilliantly written and a meaningful examination of the LGBTQ experience.”

On rejection

Giving up is not an option:

30 famous authors whose works were rejected (repeatedly, and sometimes rudely) by publishers

(Thanks to my friend and lovely author Pati Nagle for the link!)

Help Circlet Press and get lots of e-books!

[Additional note from Dayle: One of the e-books, Like a Mask Removed 2, contains the Sophie Mouette story "Pow! Bash! Yes, Yes!"]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Cecilia Tan, (617) 290-9043

INDEPENDENT PRESS USING E-PUBLISHING TO SUPPORT PRINT EFFORTS

(CAMBRIDGE, MA) -- Circlet Press' online shopping cart may be down, but they are far from out.

Circlet's first printed book in over three years, Best Erotic Fantasy, is ready to be manufactured. Bookstores have ordered it and readers are clamoring for it. But cash flow is so slow, that paying the printer to fill the orders might take so long that bookstores interest could wane before they receive their orders.

Circlet is reaching out to readers for help by starting a group called the Circlet 100. They are seeking 100 readers who are interested in their brand of erotic science fiction and offering them a limited time CD-ROM packaging 20 of their ebooks, a retail value of $128, for only $50. It's a fundraiser, but it's not a "donation." It's an opportunity to make a one-time purchase that will make a huge difference in this small press's bottom line. 

Readers who want even more can also get the Deluxe version of the CD which includes not only all 20 ebook anthologies, but also seven single-author titles, among them: Faewolf, Alpha, Robotica, and Edge-Plays, as well as receive a special "Circlet 100" T-Shirt. Total Retail value, $187.73. The shipping is included.

It's not the first time Circlet has done a fund drive. Best Fantastic Erotica, printed and publishing in 2006, was funded with an "NPR" style underwriting campaign, where readers could buy a thank you or a message in the book, similar to the "buy a brick" campaigns for new buildings. Since then, the company has been publishing mostly in the ebook realm, building up a healthy library of electronic titles.

Founder and editorial director Cecilia Tan came up with the idea for the Circlet 100. "We are still committed to the printed book as a medium," she explains, "but it can be such a big hit financially to go to press. I believe there are enough readers out there, though, who want both ebooks and print books who will take us up on this amazing ebook sale offer and know that they are doing something good for the print side as well."

The fundraising effort can be tracked at Circlet.com where a real-time graph, provided by ChipIn.com, shows how close to the $5,000 goal the collections have reached. To see the progress or chip in yourself, visit Circlet Press.

For more information:
Cecilia Tan
(617) 290-9043
ctan.circletpress@gmail.com

How sweet it is

Another great review of The Sweetest Kiss: Ravishing Vampire Erotica, this one from The New York Journal of Books! (My story is "Devouring Heart," and there are fantastic stories from many other wonderful writers.)

When it rains, it pours…

…and you know how much I love dancing in the rain!

So after I turned off the alarm this morning, I dozed off again (I hadn’t slept well), and as I came out of that doze, I started thinking about the various projects I’m working on.

I have a mystery short story due at the end of the month, and I think I finally have an actual idea for it, so I do want to get that off my plate. Then I’ve got requested revisions from editors for OOTFP and WtW, and I’m waiting to hear from Teresa on the former… And I thought about how I did a push to get a bunch of short stories done a while back, and now maybe I should do a novel push, and get both of those edits done, and then get proposal packages written and submitted (with the accompanying editor research) for What Beck’ning Ghost (an older novel I want to send out into the world again; it does need some minor tweaks, but nobody’s going to ask to see more unless I start submitting it) and Seasoned With Danger (a new novel, two chapters and proposal already written).

That seemed like a good plan. And you know what they say about plans, don’t you?

“And then [Robbie Burns] must have turned his attention to the other animal mentioned in that line of poetry. If you think back to it, ‘The best laid plans of mice and men…’ Exactly which mice plans was he really honing in here on? The best laid ones go aglae, some of the worse laid ones are okay? Some of them get through? He was fucking off his trolley.” (Eddie Izzard)

Because this is what was in my In Box this morning:

• an e-mail from Teresa answering the questions about OOTFP, which means that bumped up to the top of the queue (next to the short story)
• a Custom Erotica Source assignment for a novella (wooh!)
• a short story request (“Thank you for sending story A to anthology X. Submissions for anthology Z are thin, by the way, if you’re interested…”)
• an e-mail asking if I would read from my nominated titles at the Lammy (Lambda Literary Awards) Finalists reading at Skylight Books in Hollywood on May 10. I have stories in Lesbian Cowboys and Where the Girls Are, both nominated in the Lesbian Erotica category. How cool is that?! Of course I said yes.  :-)  I hope I get to read “Queens Up” from Lesbian Cowboys, because it’s so much fun to read aloud. I’ll send an official announcement about that (time, address, etc.) once I know more.

So now the top priorities are (not necessarily in order)…

• the mystery story
• OOTFP
• researching/sketching out the CES assignment
• writing the CES assignment
• WtW (once OOTFP is back to Teresa)

You know what, though? I’m totally jazzed. Bring it on!

Sexy as sin

Although technically I haven’t “sold” a story until the check is in my hot little hands (or the payment is in my hot little Paypal account), I usually can’t contain myself by the time the countersigned contract arrives. So now I shall burble: I sold two stories to Rachel Kramer Bussel’s Orgasmic: Erotica for Women!

Look at that cover. Isn’t she sexy as sin?

Both of my stories were essentially written by request. I’d submitted one story, and then Rachel put out a call that she needed a pregnancy story and an anal story. Oddly enough, I already had the first couple pages of a pregnancy story (yes, I know, me?! That’s why they call it “making stuff up.”), so I finished it and fired it off to her, and then wrote an anal story, and she accepted both of those and rejected the initial story that I’d sent.

This amuses me to no end.

Anyway, the book is available for pre-order at many fine establishments (Amazon, Powells, B&N, etc.) and is due out August 1, 2010.

(Good Lord and Lady, but promo takes time. I’m posting this here, adding the stories to my website, downloading the cover, uploading the cover to Flickr, adding the cover to iPhoto, adding the cover to Facebook, adding the cover here, and e-mailing my web goddess to ask her to add a new bibliography section for my Kendra Wayne pseudonym. Phew! And to think I have writing to do, too!)

The long dark tea-time of the soul

Went to the LARA meeting today, where I saw many wonderful people and managed to win 3 books for $1. (A Clockwork Heart by Dru Pagliasotti and two Jenny Crusie’s I don’t think I have. If I do, I’ll pass the extra copies along. Actually, I think I haven’t even read one of them. A travesty!)

Afterwards, Christine and I went out for lunch at Versailles, and I am now oozing garlic from every pore. Alas, poor vampires.

And now? Well, I should get some work done. And convince Ken to stop working in the garage so we can go grocery shopping. We’re out of milk, and half-and-half tastes weird in tea to me. But (a) he’s working in the garage, which means I might be able to park my car in there this year,* and (b) he already did put together the slow cooker meal for tonight (chicken thighs and canned artichoke hearts and a few other things. New recipe. Smells good so far).

Okey-doke. Onwards!

*To save money, he cancelled his storage shed and put all his work stuff in the garage before the garage was cleaned out to the extent that his work stuff—which involves pieces of room-sized machines—would fit along with my car and two motorcycles and a bunch of woodworking equipment.

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Currently Reading: The Little Sister, Sarah Waters

Lately Listened To: The Best of Both Worlds (Fish disc), Marillion

Recently Watched: Doctor Who

Attention local writers!

What: Warrior Writer Workshop
When: May 15, 2010
Who: National Bestselling Author, Bob Mayer
Where: Beverly Garlands Holiday Inn at Universal Studio Hollywood

Workshop: Based on Who Dares Wins: The Green Beret Way to Conquer Fear and Succeed, Bob Mayer teaches a unique and innovative workshop focused on educating writers on how to be successful authors in all aspects of publishing. Warrior Writer is a holistic approach that integrates the artist's creativity with the business savvy needed to succeed in publishing. The workshop is a nine-step plan that will provide the tools for writers of all levels to become the most successful authors each can be.

Bio: NY Times bestselling author Bob Mayer has 40 books published. He has over three million books in print and is in demand as a team-building, life-change, and leadership speaker and consultant.

Cost: IF PAID BY APRIL 18th! (Early bird Pricing EXTENDED!)
$75 for LARA members
$80 for OCC, EVA & San Diego RWA members
$85 for RWA members
$95 for Non-members

For more information and to register for LARA workshop please go to http://www.lararwa.com/workshop. html

Bonus Workshop: For a select few who sign up (limited to 12 participants) Bob will also offer his Warrior Writer A-Team Workshop on Sunday, May 16, 2010. This workshop will utilize the principles of Warrior Writer and The Novel Writers Toolkit and will be focused on both the participants writing as well as their business model. To learn more and to register go to: http://www.bobmayer.org/index. php?id=6

If you have any questions, please contact Tammi Flora at programming@ lararwa.com

A good life

Oh, so much goodness over the past few days!

Monday night was my birthday dinner. Not only were there wonderful people there (including Lareej, who was working a show that night and couldn’t stay, but drove all the way from Ventura to give me a hug and sit for a few minutes before dashing back), but there was suuuushi and, as I posted earlier, a dessert made out of Stitch’s head.

And there were prezzies, like an acorn teapot (thank you, Tomi!) and a Wendy Froud book and chocolate/rose love potion scrub (thank you, Morgana and Brian!) and booze (thank you, Mattea and Robey and Albra!), and handmade cards (thank you, Egan!) and a writing book (thank you, Erica!).

The next day, Ken and I went to the LA Zoo, which I’d never been to before. People, it is huge. Enormous. I had no idea. My back was killing me by the end of the afternoon! (It was uphill both ways, don’t’cha know.) But oh, there were otters and birds of prey (Russian eagles!) and tigers and lions and ocelots and jaguars and…! Although, despite what the map said, there were no slow lorises. They’re doing a lot of construction there right now and some of the displays have been moved around, so it’s possible the slow lorises are on hiatus….

I pondered and pondered what kind of food I wanted for dinner, since traffic was going to be horrible and we figured it would be best to top somewhere on our way home. Finally I decided Greek, and my handy dandy iPhone map program found me a great little Mediterranean place, and lo, it was good.

The only minor thing that marred my birthday is that Styx’s website has been revamped and even though I’m still a Lounge member, I didn’t get my annual birthday e-mail from the boys. It always made me squee quietly. Oh, I knew full well it was automated and the band had no knowledge of it, but a girl can always fantasize. I have a very rich fantasy life (for which they pay me, I might point out).

Wednesday and Thursday were mostly work days. I’ve been steadily productive, getting a work e-mail account set up, getting the rest of my books into my Amazon store (if you buy my work directly from there, I get a teeny tiny amount of money), that sort of thing.

On Friday Ken dropped me off at Borders in Thousand Oaks so I could meet up with Christine! whom I hadn’t seen in six months! for a writing day. Well, it was mostly a catching-up day for us, but that’s okay, too. We talked life and writing and more writing and plans (we want to jointly apply to Soapstone) and all manner of things. And she, bless her, brought me Yule and birthday presents (I had for her only a birthday present): a plaque, a pair of earrings of hers that I’d coveted and she says she never wears (copper crescent moons with silver spirals) and a tea infuser and a mug with a tea infuser insert.

The latter made me decide that my afternoon tea each day should be something interesting and different. I’ll do PG Tips for breakfast, but I’m going to really enjoy and savor my afternoon tea. I have loose leaf teas and white teas and who knows what else, and I want to be drinking them! Today I had Glengettie.

Anyway, after lunch Christine had to leave, and I hung out at Borders for another couple hours, working. I pitched some editing ideas (phone confab on Wednesday! fingers crossed!), submitted some reprints to audio and/or online markets, read the first three chapters of Heat Wave (the Castle book. Okay, that wasn’t exactly “working”…!), and started re-reading Out of the Frying Pan because Teresa and I have to get that back out, and the delay is entirely on my lap right now. Time to pull my weight.

Eventually I pinged Ken and he came to get me. He’d dropped me off because he needed the car to help Morgana’s mother move stuff from her house to her new apartment, because he is The Awesome. Upon realizing that we hadn’t, in fact, remembered to shop for food and had, in fact, eaten all our leftovers, we made salad and ordered a pizza. Damn Pizza Hut’s $10 Any Pizza deal! But I ate only two slices while we curled up and watched TV.

Oh, and waiting for me at home were two exciting things! The brand-new Return of the Strange Animal remastered CD/DVD package arrived in the mail! Mmmm, vintage Gowan goodness! And my birthday present from Ken (which had been delayed in the mail): the Castle book! I howled when I saw it.

So, this morning I checked e-mail and discovered our friend Lev from Portland was going to be performing with his Morris side (team) at Heritage Square, just a few blocks away. (I knew he was going to be in town for a Morris Ale, but hadn’t gotten the local performance detail until just then!) So we took a jaunt over there, enjoyed the performances, and on the way back wandered through the park, where they were having an Earth Day celebration. Picked up a map of bike trails in the area, yay!

I’d thrown in the fixings for potato leek soup into the slow cooker this morning, and the house smelled so good today. Over a week ago at the farmer’s market, I’d bought leeks on a whim, with the idea that we’d learn how to cook something new. After perusing various recipe sites online, it became clear to us that leeks are mostly good for potato leek soup. Live and learn! So we had sandwiches and soup for supper, and the soup was as good as it smelled. Definitely a keeper.

Meanwhile, Ken crawled around under the house looking at wiring, because he’s figured out how to make our fabby office-sized laser printer (aka The Behemouth) work here. It runs on 240 (British) power (wattage? I have no idea) as opposed to American 120 power, and I just typed up a long explanation that nobody would be interested in, so suffice to say he can run a cord under the house and the printer will work in my study downstairs, meaning we’ll be able to print double-sided and 11x17 and all that groovy stuff that makes geeks like us salivate. It’s especially good because I have a bunch of novel partials to get in the mail. Soon…! I didn’t marry Ken for his engineering degree, but damned if he doesn’t impress me on a regular basis. :-)

Tonight we went out to see Alice in Wonderland with Morgana and Brian, and then the two of us dashed off to the cheap theatre to see the only—and very late—showing of Sherlock Holmes, both of which I really wanted to see on the big screen, and both of which I adored, although for different reasons. (Alice for the visuals and the actors; SH for the plotting, the setting/costuming, and Robert Downey Jr.; and both for the humor.)

And now it is well past time for sleep…

Let the voting begin again!

Almost forgot to spread the word on this one!

I have another story snippet/flash fiction/whatever as part of a contest at Alison Tyler’s website. As with the last one, I don’t want to say which one’s mine, because I’m not asking you to vote for me. I want you to vote for your favorite story without prejudice. (Of course, I want my story to be your favorite! But because it’s your favorite, not because I wrote it.)

That said, astute readers of mine will be able to guess which story is mine, because it’s a prequel of sorts to “On Tour” (which appeared in Sex on the Move). “On Tour” is kind of the first chapter of a novel I say I’m Going to Write Someday™, and thus my story “Party Favor” (which appeared in Dirty Girls) is sort of a later chapter. Kinda.

Note: Alison’s site is NSFW, and several of the snippets are pretty intense and may not be to your taste. Or, who knows, maybe they will be? Just consider yourself warned and don’t blame me for the consequences! ;-)

Birthday treat!

What the sushi restaurant brought me for dessert. It looks like Stitch from Lilo & Stitch! Plus plum and green tea ice cream, and mochi!

Birthday week!

Friday, I was productive and accomplished the following:

• added more books into my Amazon store. This is going to take a while—there are a lot of them… I did all the fantasy and Andrea Dale stories; I still have Sophie Mouette and Sarah Dale to add. I’m changing all the links on my website bibliography, which is why it takes a bit longer.
• filed the serial numbers off an unsold WFH story for a possible submission to the Music for Another World anthology, and sent it to a couple of first readers to see if it still hangs together.
• ran errands: dry cleaner, pharmacy, grocery.
• dealt with more Kingdom Chronicler stuff.
• laundered, but didn’t yet put away, my thrift store purchases.

Saturday, we were at King’s Hunt, and it was windy and chilly but lovely to hang out with friends old and new.

Sunday, we tidied the sewing room, I did some hand work (made a finger-crochet cord for one of Ken’s shirts, and tacked down some hooks-and-eyes) and dealt with some e-mail, and we curled up and caught up on lots of TV. Mmm, nice mellow day.

Today, my goals are thus:

Writing

• write Cleis editing proposal and mail.
• write library essay.
• apply for more freelance jobs.
• start Waking the Witch print submissions.

SCA

• catch up on all Kingdom Chronicler correspondence.

Other

• continue cleaning off desk.
• do more laundry. Argh.
• put away all clothes.
• other e-mail. Would be nice to clean out my In Box, really.
• maybe some sewing? I bought tablecloths to turn into kitchen curtains as well as dish towels—or there may even be enough for a table runner—and I’d love to start working on that! But I suspect there won’t be time.

Plus, it’s my birthday dinner tonight!* Hurrah—birthday sushi! (I actually dreamed about sushi last night; guess I’m excited! Even if I’d’ve preferred to go to Cho Cho San rather than Genmai. Both have non-sushi options for the non-sushi/non-fish eaters, but Genmai was closer for most folks, and I’m all about making my birthday celebration amenable to as many of my friends as possible!)

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*For those not in the know, my actual birthday is tomorrow—but tomorrow night is Textile Guild, and I didn't want to conflict with that. Because, again, I want to make my celebration as enjoyable and easy for the maximim number of friends!

Seismic waves

Yup. This was me during the earthquake today…

It's here!

Sweet Love: Erotic Fantasies for Couples is here! And it's so pretty!

Featuring stories by me, Teresa, Kristina Wright, Alison Tyler, DL King, Janine Ashbless, as well as other authors I don't know but love to read stories by!

My story, "Storming the Castle," was inspired by Pencoed Castle in Wales—yes, it was saved from being turned into a theme park by the presence of rare bats. Ideas are everywhere!

Editor Violet Blue says in her intro, "Andrea Dale's 'Storming the Castle,' while lighthearted, does not disappoint for explicit sex, public risk and sexual fantasy, and pure storytelling."

"Pure storytelling." ::beams::

Things to Do Today

(It amuses me to do these types of posts occasionally. Do you enjoy reading them, or do they bore you to tears?)

My mom is safely home after her red-eye flight last night, so now it's time for me to get back to work, as well as get the house back in order and fall into the regular productive routines again. I’ve got tons of things to do, but if I make my To Do list too long, I’ll despair and end up playing Sporcle games instead of working. So today’s list is stuff I feel is do-able in the time allotted.

Check back later to follow my progress!

Midnight Update: Well, I'm quite chuffed with how much I accomplished today.

Writing

• finish and submit story to Best Lesbian Romance 2011. DONE (I discovered I did, in fact, have a reprint that fit the guidelines, hurrah!)
• get Virgin contract letters signed and in the mail to my fabby coauthors, which will allow Cat Scratch Fever and A Little Night Music to be sold as e-books. DONE
• update deadlines list. DONE
• update website DONE

SCA

• finish April issue of The Oak Leaf, have Ken proofread it, upload it, etc. DONE
• finish reading March issues of other newsletters. DONE
• catch up on all Kingdom Chronicler correspondence.

Other

• go to farmer’s market. DONE (We now have food for dinner tonight, the event on Saturday, and dinner Sunday, as well as veg for later in the week.)
• clean off desk. Partly Done
• wash clothes purchased at thrift stores, put away all clothes.
• curl up with Ken and catch up on some TV and/or movies. DONE (We watched Bones and part of Behind the Music Remastered about Heart. I really want to catch up on Lost, though!)

In which I discover my true superpower

It is not fair that when I go shopping with my mother, only I end up buying things. I don’t like shopping. At all. (Today I discovered my superpower: Texting while shuffling after my mom as she browses through racks of clothing. Srsly. Dudes.)

Yet Sunday, I came home with four skirts, a raincoat, a straw tea hat, and fabric for kitchen curtains and matching dish towels (I think the two pieces of fabric began life as table cloths, but fear my sewing skills!). Today? Three shirts and a wok at Ross. And then I felt a very great urge to lie down. (I came home and had a cuppa, which is almost the same thing.)

Meanwhile, the Santa Anas have been blowing, and I think I must be allergic to something they’re blowing at me, not to mention my hands feel like mummy hands because all the moisture is being sucked out of them. They say it will rain tomorrow, and if it does, that chorus of angelic voices you hear will be coming from my throat.

Now, if I could only a game of Fluxx against these people in my house, things would be just fine.

No, really, still alive

No, I haven’t fallen off a cliff. I just haven’t had time to sit down in front of the computer…

The weekend of the 19th through 21st, we were at our Shire’s annual event, Black Oak Lodge. We went up early on Friday to help with set-up, stayed for tear-down, and got home Sunday afternoon. If I had time to wax rhapsodic about how lovely the weekend was, was a great event it was, and how important this event and the site are to me, I would. For now, I don’t.

Monday was spent frantically trying to catch up on things, punctuated in the late afternoon by Ken’s need to go to the Urgicare place. If I had time to relate that long story, I would. He’s fine, and if you want the details, ask him.

Tuesday we headed north to Monterey (stopping at the Black Oak Lodge site on the way to retrieve some Shire effects that had been left behind). My sister Donna moved there in August and we still hadn’t visited, plus my mom had flown there the week before. We walked on the beach, had paella and very early birthday cake for me for dinner, and then I introduced them to the madness that is Fluxx. Mwahaha.

Wednesday we went to the Aquarium, and all I have to say about that is baby otter!!! and leafy sea dragon socks!!! because the rest pales in comparison. We also visited the animal shelter my sister and niece volunteer at (and I didn’t come home with all the cats, so be impressed), had a picnic on the coast, and poked around some tide pools and saw a purple crab.

Thursday we packed my mom into the car and headed back home along the coast. Stunningly beautiful day. We ate at our favorite Mexican place in San Simeon.

Friday my mom and I met another writer at CB&TL for a session, and that night we went to the Shire’s quarterly birthday dinner at a Mongolian BBQ. Ken stayed home because our friends Ernie and Pauline from Portland were due in on their motorcycle, and were arriving later than expected. So that was a late evening.

Saturday we introduced my mom to sushi at Cho Cho San (Rock and Roll hand roll nomnomnom) and continued south to have dinner at Ken’s mom’s, so we got home late that night, too.

Today we checked out a gated senior community with our friend Thomasina, stopped for Thai food for lunch, and then Thomi, Morgana, Mom, and I went thrift-store shopping. I came home with four skirts and one top, all of which may or may not really fit me, and a raincoat because I had none. We also stopped at Rosie Lee Imports, so I’m well stocked up on PG Tipps. We watched Dreamgirls after dinner, and now it’s annoyingly late and I have a chiro appt in the morning and then we’re going to have lunch with Ken’s dad and wife at Versailles.

Tuesday is another writing session (and none too soon, because I am cranky for the lack of it, plus I have deadlines looming like large murderous looming things) and then we’ll hit the Camarillo outlet mall. Tuesday evening and Wednesday are currently up in the air, and them Mom leaves at about midnight Wednesday.

Thursday and Friday will be heads-down working, finishing up any stories for deadlines, finishing the April issue of The Oak Leaf (Shire newsletter), catching up on Kingdom Chronicler stuff and e-mail and whatnot, tidying the sewing room, and prepping for King’s Hunt on Saturday.

Meanwhile, I’m astonishingly far behind, and unlikely to catch up on, Facebook and Twitter, so if anything important is happening, please let me know!

More whenever I resurface again…

Not that I needed anybody...

...to tell me it was okay to love Styx!

See? It's the keyboard's fault

Even though I don't believe in writer's block, this made me laugh and laugh!

Photos from Black Oak Lodge 2010

Photos from Black Oak Lodge 2010 are here!

I love my job

4000-year-old Chinese mummies found in a cemetary blanketed with blatant sexual symbolism," according to The New York Times.

love my job, because this is the sort of thing I get to read about.

And I love my friends, because they send me links to these sorts of things! :-)

Halp! Looking for a story…

I’m hoping one of my SF-geeky friends can help me with this.

I’m looking for a short story I read in about the mid-oughts (2003–2005 or so). I remember it being in a digest-sized mag, probably F&SF, but it could have been Asimov’s or maybe even Analog.

Warning: spoilers ahead.

The story starts with a psychiatrist interviewing someone, I believe a male teacher, who’s about to go to trial after being accused of inappropriately touching a child. It’s from the psychiatrist’s pov so you assume at the beginning that the teacher is guilty.

The story is set in the future and time travel is possible. You can’t actually enter the past scene, but you can experience it (definitely see and hear it, probably smell and taste it). So you get dropped into the middle of the scenario, but you can’t be affected by it or affect it.

What we learn is that children are taken back to experience the horrors of war first-hand—the blood, the gore, the awfulness—so that they will never want to wage war themselves. It’s an effort to wipe out all war.

Turns out that a small child—I’m remembering s/he was 4—started crying, and the teacher picked him/her up to console her. It was only “inappropriate” because the teachers weren’t supposed to make the kids feel better during the time travel. (It’s possible that all cuddling of children has been banned, but I can’t remember for sure.)

Thus the touching wasn’t inappropriate from our current standards, and the reader now views the teacher in a completely different light, sympathizing with him.

Does this sound familiar to anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

Attention, San Diego friends

Ken will be giving his IBR talk at San Diego BMW Motorcycles this Saturday:

The Iron Butt Association is a group of loose-knit 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, or Coast-to-Coast in under 50 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 over the US and Canada on a giant two-wheeled scavenger hunt. Although the Iron Butt Association has over 40,000 members, barely 400 riders have successfully finished an Iron Butt Rally. 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.

I don't know what time (early evening, I think), so call the dealership to confirm:

5673 Kearny Villa Road, San Diego CA 92123
Phone: 858-560-BIKE (2453)

"Exceptional prose"

Thank you, Reviewer Emily at Three Dollar Bill Reviews!

"'Queens Up' by Andrea Dale is the tale of Josephine who uses her skill at poker to undo her father’s mistakes and reclaim a home for herself and Margaret. This clever historical tale flows beautifully with excellent characters and exceptional prose."

("Queens Up" appeared in Lesbian Cowboys: Erotic Adventures, and was reprinted in Best Lesbian Romance 2010, which was the focus of the above review.)

Tied and bound for first place!

Thank you to all who voted!

Marching forward

I felt universally crappy yesterday—thought I was coming down with a cold, because my throat felt wonky and I had the energy of a newborn kitten—so I self-medicated with a hot bubble bath and the Nora Roberts that finally popped up in my Holds queue at the library (Vision in White).

I also decided, looking at my schedule for this month, not to go to San Diego with Ken this weekend, where he’ll be doing his IBR talk again. Besides, he would’ve had to take the extra gas tank off (because it sits where my seat is supposed to be), and that would be silly because attendees will want to see it and poke at it and so forth.

That said, we’ve scheduled a mini-vacation down there near the end of April: two days to play (we have free passes to Sea World, and maybe we’ll hit the Wild Animal Park and/or the Zoo, and we also want to see The Marston House), then we’ll do an 8-hour rally (together! Because 8 hours is as long as I ever want to do a rally, really), and finish up with an SCA event in Orange County.

Before that… Yep, this month is getting pretty busy. The weekend after next is Black Oak Lodge, our Shire’s annual weekend-long event. We’ll be heading up early on Friday to help with set up, and I’m running Gate. Since we always help with clean up and tear down, we’ll get home after lunch on Sunday. In terms of work, the weekend’s mostly shot (plus Thursday will be packing and Sunday afternoon/evening will include unpacking, laundry, etc.).

The following Tuesday, we’re motoring up to Monterey to visit my sister and her family, which will include the Aquarium! because what’s the point of going to Monterey without going to the aquarium and seeing the otters? (Okay, yes, seeing my sister and her family, since they moved there last August and we still haven’t made it up there. But still.) We’ll come home on Thursday with my mom, who will have flown to Monterey the week before. She’s staying with us for a week.

The weekend after she leaves is King’s Hunt, another weekend-long SCA event, although because we don’t camp, we’ll probably just go for Saturday. The Monday after that is my birthday dinner (although my birthday is actually Tuesday, but that’s Textiles Guild night). Which reminds me, I have to send the invitation…

Anyway. Some busy weeks coming up, so I have to grab all the work time in between.

• I’ve got three short story deadlines at the end of the month. One story’s in progress and should be done this week, if not within the next day or so.
• I have novel submissions to do (got all the Waking the Witch e-mail ones done, but I have to buy more ink cartridges to do some postal ones; today and tomorrow will be catching up on Out of the Frying Pan, and then it’s on to Possessed, Undressed, and in a Mess.
• I have to get back to work on Out of the Frying Pan so Teresa and I can get it back out to the editor who said she’d look at it again with some revisions.
• I’ve got some nonfiction and editing proposals to get moving on.

So that’ll keep me out of trouble for a little while. :-)

---

Edited to add: I swear to you, we had a conversation last night about the 8-hour rally and I expressed how excited I was that we could run it together. But apparently he/we aren't running the rally; he's helping run the rally. WTF? He has no explanation for why my excitement didn't cause him to explain this last night. So that'll be 8 hours I sit in a corner of a BMW dealership (which usually have nice comfy sitting areas and tea-making facilities) and work!

An epic win!

I just learned that Coming Together: Against the Odds won a 2010 Eppie for Best Erotica/Erotic Romance anthology!

The Coming Together collections each benefit a different charity; all proceeds from the sale of Coming Together: Against the Odds will benefit Autism Speaks.

The reason I'm popping virtual champagne here is because I'm proud to be a part of Coming Together: Against the Odds, which contains my story "Always a Bridesmaid"! The anthology also has stories by Teresa Noelle Roberts (aka half of Sophie Mouette), Kathleen Bradean, Maxim Jakubowski, and many more amazing authors.

So, to recap: Buy this award-winning anthology (or any of the fabulous Coming Together anthologies) and not only get a book of sexy-hot stories, but you can also write it off on taxes and get the warm fuzzy feeling of having donated to a very worthy cause.

Have a Kindle? Looking for something to read?

I have no idea how many of ya'll have Kindles, so I wanted to mention that a good number of my stories are available that way, at least as part of anthologies.

The cupcake-scrumptious Rachel Kramer Bussel just listed a slew of her anthologies that have Kindle versions, and you can find that list here. I have stories (either as Andrea Dale or in collaboration with Teresa as Sophie Mouette) in 11 of them.

I'm also in negotiation with my publisher to get my two novels into electronic editions.

This digital world is pretty amazing, isn't it?!

On Writing Customized Erotica Stories

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Haste ye here and vote!

[Note: If you're reading this on Facebook or anywhere other than Blogger, please click through to vote in the poll and leave comments. Thanks!]

Okay, time for a poll. I want to set up an affiliate program with an online bookseller, so you can click through from my webpage or blog and order books, and I get a wee little bonus. Plus, you can easily order any of my publications from one handy-dandy page, which is a great big bonus for you!

The question is, with what bookstore should I go? I adore Powells and do most of my online shopping there, but I know I'm in a minority and many people prefer Amazon. And others have a soft spot for B&N or Borders or possibly somewhere else I'm not even thinking of.

Hence the poll. If your vote is "other," please leave a comment explaining what "other" you like!

The poll is over there on the right, and will close on March 10 at about 10:50 p.m. Pacific Time. If you have questions, please fire them off to me in the comments here or e-mail me.

Thank you! :-)

5-star review!

A Little Night Music just got a five-star review from a reader on amazon!

Vampiric vermin, I swear

Aaaaugh. I feel like for every one thing I get done, three more crop up. Like a nasty game of Whack-a-Mole. With moles that bite my ankles.

Since my last entry, this is what I’ve accomplished:

• finished “Braceleted,” walked to the PO, mailed it.
• continued on to the library and dropped off items that were due.
• decided not to write the next story on my list, for various reasons.
• got the assignment for the overnight Denise Little Workshop story, wrote it, and turned it in. (It’s called “At the Mirk and Midnight Hour.” Can anyone guess the reference?)
• read most of the DLW stories for the first assignment.
• downloaded all of the new stories to read.
• finished the draft of the March issue of The Oak Leaf for Ken to proof.
• went to the gym (Friday).

Still to do:

• gobs and gobs of e-mail, which includes things like “could you call me when you have some free time?” (Free time? Aaaugh!), two ongoing contract negotiations, and…I don’t even want to look and be reminded.
• read all the new DLW stories.
• write the next story on my list.
• ideally get The Oak Leaf ready and copied today or early tomorrow so I can take issues to the Costumed Fighter Practice tomorrow.
• grocery shopping for the next week or so plus food for the potluck picnic after the Costumed Fighter Practice.
• go to the gym (today and tomorrow).
• apply for more freelance editing/writing jobs.

Once more into the breach…

To do sounds a lot like to doom

Many, many things to do today. It didn’t help that I didn’t set the alarm correctly. About all I’ve accomplished so far is breakfast (leftover Chinese), ablutions, a quick read of e-mail, and lunch (leftover Chinese). We also walked to the Farmer’s Market and came home with lots of fresh fruit and veg, and of course prior to that we planned meals for the next week or so.

But now it’s almost 2 p.m. and I still have to…

• read-through “Braceleted,” which I finished last night (9K words) and clean up all my little bracketed notes to myself.
• walk to the Post Office and mail “Braceleted.”
• possibly continue on to the library because I have this niggling feeling something’s due.
• ideally write another story for a fast-approaching deadline. I have no idea for this story, and the theme is pretty open. Argh.
• read all the stories for the Denise Little Workshop, which actually starts tonight. Even though I’m not there, I need to read them all so I can follow along. Also, I don’t know whether the overnight assignment for the DL Workshop will come tonight or tomorrow. Argh squared. (Although I’m excited and looking forward to the challenge.)
• try to finish The Oak Leaf as much as possible, even though I’m still waiting on some things. Which the authors have not even told me if I might get or not.
• deal with Kingdom Chronicler stuff, since that slipped lower on my To Do list over the past week, and can’t slip any farther.
• power through as much e-mail as I can.

Ken’s said he’ll handle dinner (spinach-and-feta stuffed chicken, couscous, steamed asparagus). We’ve committed to going to Scribal Guild tonight to help with scrolls, and I really do want to do that. It’s sort of the reward for all this other stuff.

So instead of going to the gym for cardio, it’ll be a walk. Not nearly as intense, but better than nothing.

And now it’s time for me to dive in and get to work! Let’s see how much I get done.

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! :-)