The good vs the morning

The good news is that I didn’t have to report to jury duty on my birthday.

The bad news is that I have to be there at 8-effing-o’clock in the morning tomorrow. Argh.

But I’ll take Afalwen and get some work done!

Speaking of work, must get back to it… I got some PUM proposals in the mail today, and now I have to get a short story back in circulation, then finish another short story.

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Currently Reading: Dogs and Goddesses, Jennifer Crusie, Anne Stuart, and Lani Diane Rich
Lately Listened To: Hm. Be interesting to see what I choose…
Recently Watched: Supernatural (I suspect it’s very, very wrong that I’m thinking certain thoughts about Castiel…)

My birthday weekend, in one picture

The plan is to get all the pictures uploaded to Flickr today and do a full write-up of my Most Incredible Birthday Weekend, but for now, here's a teaser:

But who's typing?

So, I’ve got a freelance writing blog in my RSS feed on Google Reader, and every Monday it lists all the freelance writing and editing gigs it culls from other places—all the Craigslists, for example.

Today, there’s one that says “Ghost Blog Writer Needed.” And when you’ve got a brain like mine, that goes in sharply sideways into a potentially really interesting idea. (OTOH, can ghosts type? Wouldn’t a ghost be looking for a live person to put together the ghost’s blog? Which, incidentally, is a throwaway line in my Ghosted manuscript …)

I want to have intimate relations with Joss Whedon's brain

Well, we were going to go to King’s Hunt today, even though Ken got home at 5 p.m. last night. By late last night, though, he realized he was coming down with a cold… So we’ve spent most of today curled up in front of the TV. (We’re now caught up on Dollhouse, which has had some jaw-dropping twists and turns, plus a couple of the funniest lines I’ve heard in a long time. I ::heart:: Joss Whedon so very much!)

Now, though, I’m off to the grocery store for the fixings for chicken soup/stew, pesto pizza, and ice cream, among other things. Joy.

And now that our Internet access seems to be working again, I’ve got to get all those PUM proposals mailed!

Reunited...and it feels so good

Ken’s home! Yay! He arrived at about 5 p.m., after getting a new front tire yesterday in El Paso and a new back tire this morning in Phoenix. (Sara, he would’ve crashed at your place, but he didn’t actually have A Plan until pretty late and didn’t want to bother you.)

So I made salad, pesto tortellini, from TJ’s and sauce for dinner, and we watched How I Met Your Mother and two eps of Castle. We have sooo much on the DVR right now, including the final two eps of Battlestar Galactica. I’ve been doing my best to avoid any Internet or TV Guide spoilers. The fact that our Internet connection has been effed up for the past two days has aided in that.

But I have so much to do! I may spend my regular Sunday afternoon writing fest with fellow writers at CB&TL answering e-mail and sending PUM submissions than actually writing.

Purring under stress. Good lesson to learn.

Yesterday, I learned how to give subcutaneous fluids to a cat. Not something I ever wanted to learn, believe me. Today, with Morgana’s help, I gave Grimoire a full dose. Bless his furry little heart, he took it like a trooper. In fact, he purred, complaining only briefly once or twice. (Morgana is magical about calming cats, which helped wonders.) Just a few more days of that, to flush out the extra calcium in his system that’s been messing him up. (He spent Tuesday night and most of Wednesday at the ER vet.) Still no news on scheduling surgery for him; more on that when I have info. Really. Honest.

Meanwhile, I’m working on a Harlequin Nocturne Briefs novella, since they’re having a pitch contest, and Teresa and I had a good confab on Possessed, Undressed, and in a Mess. Proposals will be blanketing New York soon, provided my Internet connection stops freaking out. We also have the next few scenes sussed out. Onwards!

Ken should be home tomorrow. He got a new front tire this morning, but thought his back tire would survive the rest of the trip. Er, not so much. He’s in Phoenix, and tomorrow morning he’ll replace the back tire and come home to me.

Anyway, I’ll post this whenever I have a reliable connection again. Which means, in the magic of time, it will already have happened by the time you read this. Or something like that.

Resurfacing, briefly

Nine short stories in the mail today, plus follow-up queries on two others. Whew. Now, on to blanketing New York with Possessed, Undressed, and in a Mess! (And then re-sending Out of the Frying Pan, and then whatever novel is next on my list…)

New record: Story e-mailed 12:46 p.m., rejection received 6:19 p.m.

In other news, Ken will probably be home Thursday (he’s staying with his brother in Texas tonight and leaving tomorrow morning), Grimoire is spending the night at the ER vet, my herbs are not yet dead and I’ve absconded with a bunch of rose geranium clippings (my “payment” for hacking back Morgana’s rose geranium hedge o’doom) that are now soaking in preparation for planting, and Valerian now gives me heart palpitations instead of helping me sleep.

Rockin' out

Nanci finally sent me a copy of this picture from the Styx show at the Anaheim House of Blues. Nanci and her husband have a little monkey named Monk that goes to all the shows, and I managed to get Lawrence's attention at the end to ask him to take a Polaroid of us with Monk. And because Lawrence loves us so much, he obliged.

Sah-weet!

I’ve been thinking ahead to my birthday weekend. Todd Sucherman of Styx is playing with his usual bar band in Huntington Beach on Friday and Saturday nights, so I thought it would be fun to get a nice hotel or B&B in the area and stay Friday night, then go to the Aquarium of the Pacific and have tea at The Tudor House. But at the same time, we’re paying attention to money so I didn’t want to go overboard on the hotel stay.

I just discovered The Queen Mary is having a special deal that includes a room, tickets to their Ghosts and Legends show (The Queen Mary is massively haunted), reduced-price tickets to the Aquarium of the Pacific, tickets to the LA Zoo, tickets to the San Diego Wild Animal Park, a discount coupon book for San Diego hotels, and more.

Score! *\o/*

We’ll head home Saturday night, of course, because Sunday we grab Morgana and Brian and go to see meerkats! It’s going to be an amazing weekend!

But now, back to work. ::hunkers down::

Success!

The event is over! It was fabby! The Super-Secret Special Entertainment was awesome (despite the minor problem of half the lamps getting blown out)! The Roman-style macacroni and cheese was to die for (and I have a big ol' bag of it in my fridge)! I didn't have to hide any bodies under the new pool!

Tomorrow, back to life and work. The enforced break from writing has had the benefit of making me really miss it, really look forward to getting back to it. More on that...tomorrow!

Also tomorrow, Ken leaves for Arkansas to help move his 95-year-old grandmother into a care facility. It's something she wants to do, which is good. But I'll miss him. So I've also booked myself a mini spa day at home tomorrow—I'm thinking a facial steam, a cuticle scrub, and some pretty nail polish. (Feel free to suggest a color. I've got most of 'em, and haven't decided yet.)

Woke up this morning with a wine glass in my hand…

Whose wine? What wine? When the—

No, that’s not it at all. Reboot.

Went to bed sometime between 1 and 1:30 a.m. this morning. Woke up a little after 7 a.m. because:

• there’s a logistical flaw in the special entertainment!
  
• I need to make a list of everyone to thank in Closing Court!
  
• why is “Only the Good Die Young” stuck in my head?!*
  

I know it’s all going to go smashingly; all that’s left to do is final prep, and there are ton of amazing and wonderful people coming who are going to pitch in and make the event a success. I’m already salivating over the feast menu (running an Italian-themed event is one of the smarter things I’ve done!). The weather is going to be lovely.

But first I have a million tiny details to iron out…

::dashes off::

____
*Because it came up on Morgana’s iPod rotation the other day when we were sewing. Thank the gods I have an explanation for this one.

Edited to clarify: I'm not running an Italian-themed feast, I'm running an Italian-themed event. Sheez. This is what sleep dep does to me!

Ohmmm...

I’m surprisingly calm right now. I still have a mega-ton of stuff to do for the event (finish the site booklet, sort out the special super-secret entertainment, make signs, stare at Ken so he finishes casting the site tokens…) but it doesn’t feel insurmountable. Maybe because I finished my corset today (except for the grommets, which I’m going to make Ken put in because I don’t entirely trust myself with a hammer right now) as well as one of my dresses (I’ve got a few inches left on the trim. Oh, I want to bead it with pearls and amethysts, but not before the event!). It doesn’t really matter why. I’m just glad for it.

Of course, the dark-chocolate-covered caramel from Trader Joe’s that I just ate might have something to do with my mental state. Mmmm…

I’m mildly peeved about the time change tonight—I’m happy it’ll be light later, but not about losing an hour of sleep that I desperately need. Nothing I can do about it, though!

::Zens out::

Being published vs being read

My friend (and writer I respect) Steve York posted a link to an older post of his own about the truths of writing and publishing, because he's added to it and because it's something all writers, at any stage of the game, need to read. Repeatedly. Because we forget.

Thanks, Steve!

With a whoosh that flutters your hair as I dash by

Sorry for the recent radio silence. Been immersed in Black Oak Lodge preparations as well as having The Oak Leaf be the test case for putting all local SCA groups’ electronic newsletters online at the Kingdom’s website. I’m delighted to report the latter is up and running and working marvelously. You’d never guess how many hours of work went into that (and not just on my end)!

~ ~ ~

Quickie update: Back is fine, thanks to my chiropractor. I did lose Saturday in a drug haze, but that’s the price you gotta pay. Been dealing with some stress headaches on and off (my neck is impossibly stiff) but nothing major.

~ ~ ~

Pompoms for a sale! I just got word this morning that the cupcakely delightful Rachel Kramer Bussel has accepted “Stuffing the Ballot Box” for her Bottoms Up: Spanking Good Erotica anthology. It’s already available for pre-order—just click that link!

Also, I’m about to sign a contract for a fun freelance gig, writing customized erotic stories. The extra income will be most appreciated and it’ll be a way to keep my writing skills fresh, playing with voice and writing to theme. (I’m still in the market for some additional freelance work—maybe some copy editing or proofreading?—so if you hear of any, let me know!)

~ ~ ~

Other goodness:

• getting second-row pit seats for the Phoenix Styx show in May! (Only downside is that it’s on Tommy’s side, but a change of scenery is good for the soul, right?!)
  
• hearing that Styx is currently in LA (so close!) actually recording!

~ ~ ~

Once the event (13–15 March) is over, Ken’s off to Arkansas to help move his 94-year-old grandmother into a care facility. My alone time will be spent focusing back in on a slew of writing projects (and this enforced “vacation” from writing is making me chomp at the bit to get back to it!) and starting walking regularly with Morgana…as well as updating here more regularly. If you’ve missed me, that is. Feel free to tell me if you have. Because you all know I’m a sucker for that sort of thing.

(Also, I do post little updates to my Facebook account, more often than I really ought to. So if you’re worried that I’ve tipped off the edge of the earth, you can always check there. Which is not to imply that Facebook is off the edge of the earth, but then again, maybe it is…)

~ ~ ~

Finally, but most importantly…

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Dude...seriously?

Thursday night while we were watching TV, my back started to bug me…in a sciatica sort of way. Uh oh. I took some Advil, slept. Friday, it happened on and off, to the point that I made a chiro appt. My back (and neck) were a mess, and she told me to take a very hot bath with Epsom salts, sit on a tennis ball to work the deep muscle through which the sciatic nerve runs, and slather my butt with Biofreeze. I did the first two (forgot about the third), and also took a prescription muscle relaxant left over from my last bad bout.

It bugged me on and off during the show, and I took another muscle relaxant and half a prescrip painkiller before bed. Woke up with it hurting again, and I couldn’t get comfortable. Now I was getting nervous. I took another muscle relaxant and painkiller, and spent a goodly amount of today in a floaty, muzzy haze. Mmm…shiny…

Now it’s sort of happening on and off: It’ll hurt for a while, then fade away. I’m going to continue to take it very easy over the next day or so, and I’ve got another chiro appt on Monday.

I really can’t afford a bad bout of this right before Black Oak Lodge. I also really can’t afford to panic about it because that’ll just cause my muscles to seize up more, and this is all about stopping that muscle from seizing up on my damnable sciatic nerve… I’m avoiding the drugs as much as I can, because when I’m all happyfloaty, I’m mostly useless when it comes to actually being productive.

Anyway, if you’re waiting to hear something from me, or waiting on something from me, please be patient. I’m triaging as best I can!

Edited to add: I was going to ask why Nik Kershaw's "Wouldn't It Be Good" is suddenly stuck in my head, but I'm just going to blame it on the drugs.

Really? Are you kidding me?

Happy Birthday, Dad! Wish I could be in Myrtle Beach at the Olive Garden sharing it with you!

~ ~ ~

It’s been a stressful week, mostly involving me at the computer answering 8 million e-mails and designing the newsletter and fretting over Black Oak Lodge, or at Morgana’s working on my corset and one of my Italians, or trying to catch up on sleep and failing.

So getting a jury summons today ended up being kind of funny. Especially since I’m supposed to report on my birthday.

I’m kind of afraid to defer it, because the two weeks after that date are open. I don’t have anything else scheduled until late April (two Queensrÿche shows), and then there are Styx shows in May, and workshops and Faerieworlds in July. No doubt something will crop up in June.

I have no problem with serving; I did it a couple of years ago. It’s what makes our system run: a jury of your peers. If I’m ever unfortunate enough to be part of a trial, I want that jury of my peers, so I should do it for someone else.

Besides, you call the night before anyway to see if your group is up the next day, so there’s always the chance I won’t even have to go in on my actual birthday.

I’m really celebrating my birthday all weekend—two Day After Daze (with Todd drumming!) shows at Pancho’s on Friday and Saturday nights, and meerkats! on Sunday. So the actual day is less important. I’ll probably be happy to have the time to sit with my laptop, waiting to see if I’ll be called!

~ ~ ~

Tonight we went to a charity concert to benefit the Las Virgenes Unified School District Student Musicians. Now, I’m all about supporting the arts in schools, but I’ll be honest: The real reason we went is Tommy was performing, as well as Venice, a local band we really like (they opened for Styx in Germany and Switzerland in 2000, which is how we learned of them). Michael McDonald and Christopher Cross were also slated to perform, so we considered fleeing after Tommy’s performance. Thankfully MM and CC mostly performed together, and not very long. Tommy did come out for the final songs with MM (and sang a verse of “Takin’ It to the Street”).

Anyway. Despite messing up the first song, Tommy was amazing as always. He got a standing ovation after “Renegade,” which I didn’t expect to see in this type of crowd, and I heard a guy behind me exclaim, “That guy rocks!” Why, yes he does.

We had cheap nosebleed balcony seats, but that was okay. (Hey, it’s not like Lawrence was there!) We ended up sitting with Fran and Thom and Lisa, and afterwards we went out for food with a small crowd of Styx fan friends. Fun!

::waving hello::

On the plane home from Oregon. As usual, I’m a combination of exhausted and energized. My brain whirls with plans, plots, ideas, enthusiasm.

Neither of the anthologies we wrote for are “sold.” (Denise Little, the editor, works for Tekno Books, who packages anthologies for DAW, among other places. These two haven’t been picked up by DAW yet.) However, we’re also free to send the stories we wrote elsewhere in the interim. My story for the first antho didn’t quite make it (although a number of attendees came up to me afterwards and told me how much they liked it), but my second story did. It was a very silly story. :-) However, I’m still going to send it elsewhere and see what happens. I can always write another story.

I’m already fired up for the workshops in July, too. The first weekend is Structure and Plot, and the second is Contract & Copyrights, which I sorely need. For the week in between, Kris will work with us individually on things we want help on, but the two things I came up with aren’t craft issues. I don’t know if I have craft issues. So I’m thinking I’ll spend those 5 days hammering away at some project. Not sure what project; that’ll depend on where I am at that point. That’s 5 months away, for crying out loud.

Kris also gave me some advice and insight on how to deal with Ghosted, which has been fighting me for some time. One thought is, in fact, to set it aside, possibly up to a year, and come back to it with fresh eyes. I’m not convinced I want to do that when I have some other things I can try, but we’ll see.

First goal right now is to deal with volunteer stuff for the next two weeks. I overcommitted, yes, but I have to accept that and deal with it. Black Oak Lodge will go fine, but Ken and I need to focus on it, and I need to have the right attitude to do that.

Anyway, the best thing to come out of this weekend is the reminder that I’m part of a network of amazing, fun writers. All are peers and friends. I met nifty new folks, reconnected with ones I’ve missed for far too long.

My only regret is that I was so busy, I never got the chance to walk on the beach. I adore the wild Oregon coast. Still, I really can’t begrudge the time I spent with smart, creative, hilarious friends.

::waving::

Off to a workshop on the Oregon Coast tomorrow. I expect the "no blogging" rule will be instated, so you probably shan't hear from me 'til I return. (The workshop doesn't start until Thu evening, though, so I may check in with tales of rambling walks on the beach, interspersed with finishing a story that needs to get mailed ASAP and reading lots of nummy stories.)

Play nice! If you drink the booze, replace it! (Don't water it down to make it look like none is gone. I'm onto you.)

Because you asked so nicely

There have been requests for the tale of how my inner beast was unleashed, so in a nutshell, here it is.

Now, those of you who know me, know I’m not a confrontational person. I hate conflict. My first instinct is to avoid it altogether, although I’m slowly learning there are times when talking the issue out is appropriate (not always successful, perhaps, but sometimes you’ve got to try). That’s why this whole thing was so…unexpected.

This happened at the casino show where security made us stay at our seats until near the end of the show. (They didn’t make us sit down, but only a handful of people stood until we were allowed to go forward.) Styx’s stage manager was furious.

A little while after we got up to the stage, some asshole guy decided it would be a brilliant idea to shove me into Ken and sit his girlfriend on the stage, I assume so she could jump up and do...whatever. Grab the guys. Dance. Get busted for being an idiot. Whatever; I don't care. They were on my right; Ken was on my left. Ken reached around me and grabbed the woman and pulled her get down, as did I.

At which point we discovered something about me. Apparently I turn into a mama bear protecting her cubs, or possibly the Tasmanian Devil, when someone tries to get at my band.

I turned around and roared “No! That is not fucking appropriate! Get the fuck down!” Ken notes that the guy was about 6-3, 6-4, and when I let into him, he actually took a step back. His girlfriend took several steps back. Heh.

Then the guy made a worse mistake: He condescended to me. He started in with "Hey, calm down, we're all just having fun here."

Me, still at the top of my lungs: “It’s not fun when you’re shoving me! Back the fuck off!”

At that point, Ken was trying to calm me down. I think I had flames shooting out my ears. I turned back to the stage, but the guy was still being a little muttery, and Ken said "Hey man, be careful, she'll rip your face off." I will? This was so unlike me. I was livid.

It felt kinda good actually. :-)

I also had a big space behind me for the rest of the show. :-)

The band and security never noticed a thing.

[Note to my mother: I’m sorry. I honestly don’t use the f-word on a regular basis. That was part of what was so bizarre about the whole incident.]

Timpani mallets? Priceless.

We’re home from a mini-vacation of four Styx shows, visiting with friends, and seeing The Da Vinci Experience exhibit at the Air & Space Museum in San Diego. Woo!

Highlights:

• Lawrence taking my hands and saying “Dayle, hello,” and later remembering how to spell my name when he signed my promotional plastic “A Criminal Mind” handcuffs.
  
• Chatting with Taylor Mills, Todd Sucherman’s wife, about her CD and all manner of other things for half an hour or so.
  
• Seeing the twins get their poster signed by Lawrence and Chuck.
  
• Making Fran laugh so hard I thought she was going to hyperventilate.
  
• Learning that Keith (the stage manager) bitched about the security guards at the Harrah’s Casino show on his Facebook account during the concert.
  
• Discovering my inner “protect the band” beast. I scared a couple of idiots who did something supremely stupid. I scared Ken. I scared myself. Bottom line: Nobody gets at my boys!
  
• Coming up with a great t-shirt slogan that I might just be able to convince the merch guy to make.
  
• Reading stories for this week’s writing workshop in Oregon on my iPhone while sitting in line waiting for a show.
  
• And the pièce de la résistance: Todd tossing Ken two broken timpani mallets. He uses the mallets for “Suite Madame Blue,” and last year Ken held up a sign asking for one. Of course, mallets are reusable, and I thought that would never happen. The night after he threw them to Ken, Ken held up a sign thanking him, and Todd pointed and mouthed “Those were for you!” meaning he remembered the request and must have saved the ones he’d broken at some point. Ken is as giddy as a schoolgirl, and rightly so! Dude!
  

Now it’s heads-down working until Wed when I get on a plane to Oregon for a workshop. Can’t wait! I have a bunch of awesome stories to finish reading, and I get to hang out with some amazing writers I’m privileged to call friends.