Tag Archives: writing money

Comcast’s unreliability is really ticking me off. Our cable modem, which we pay a criminally high monthly fee for, is running at the ever-so-impressive speed of dial-up. Time to get out the tar and feathers!

In my never-ending search for whimsy, I came across a product that made me pause and blink. It’s Pawlish, nail polish for pets. Yep, you can paint your pet’s nails red, purple, and blue. The website declares that “Mom can use Pawlish too! Fido will love having the same color nails!”

At first, I thought: “This is incontrovertible proof that the devil walks among us.” And then I scrolled down the page and found a testimonial from a pet owner, and not just any pet, but a skunk owner. And there were pictures of the skunk (let me emphasize these are not pictures of Hobkin) wearing Pawlish. To my growing horror, I found myself going “Awww! Doesn’t she look precious with her nails all blue?” and speculating whether they had any plans for a goth color line. That’s when I realized that the devil is sneaky and sly with his seductive guile and temptation.

Fortunately, Hobkin would never stand for the indignity of having his nails done. If I so much as came near him with a bottle of Pawlish, there would be blood. Alas, just when I thought my immortal soul was saved, I remembered what we did to him three years ago. Yup, going to hell in a handbasket.

Warning: There is some nudity on the voting pages. Not safe for work or kiddies!

   

Writing Stuff
Received my replacement check from 9 (after a Greek bank strike caused the original to get returned) for their translation of “The Adventures of Manny the Mailmobile.” Grumph. They didn’t include the fee my bank tacked on for a returned check to their payment. Leaves me a having to eat it. Feh. But at least I got paid. And I’ll forgive them if they buy more of my stories . . .

New Words: 600ish on “The Better To . . .”
Bridging scene written, and I’m at zero draft. Huzzah! It clocks in at around 7.2K. In my relief to have it done done done, I immediately foisted it upon fosteronfilm to first reader. He, being the supportive hubby that he is, read and critiqued it while I was sleeping and I woke up to a page and a half of suggestions that I need to ponder. Urg. But in a good way. So yeah, I think it’s likely that I’ll get this up at Critters next week.

Club 100 For Writers
      24

500/day
      82

Got a shiny payment into my PayPal account from jinzi for “In Suffering Lies Salvation” which is due to be published in the Lent(ish) issue of anaisdotmfk.com. Suhweet! jinzi utterly rawks as an editor/publisher.

And hey, on that note, anyone out there get Chronicle, the DNA Publications industry ‘zine? The June issue mentions anaisdotmfk.com and I’m trying to scrounge up what they said. Anyone? Anyone?

Also wrote and published a review of this week’s SCI FICTION story, “The Canadian Who Came Almost All the Way Home From the Stars” by jaylake and specficrider to Tangent.

And after my mini I’m-so-overworked-and-over-stressed Tangent rant I got an email from someone interested in being a reviewer. Huzzah. The universe humors me sometimes.

New Words: 700
On “The Better to . . . ” I’ve got the remaining scenes sketched out in my head, but they seem resistant to being born onto the page. Grumf. Not sure if I can wrap this up in the next 1K. We’ll see.

5,643 / 6,500 (86.0%)

Club 100 For Writers
      13

500/day
      77

fosteronfilm subjected me to the most atrocious made-for-TV movie yesterday, in his on-going effort to make his review site as comprehensive as possible. Urf. I’ve even wiped the memory of the title from my memory. It was something made in the ’70s about a police case surrounding a series of mysterious murders that looked like a werewolf did them. It was bad. Really really bad. And I didn’t even have alcohol to soften the pain of the badness.

   

Writing Stuff
Updated my Children’s Markets Listing to include a couple “at a glance” tables with the just the basics: market name, audience age, word limits, pay, and couple other stats.

Received checks yesterday from Carnifex Press for “Caesar’s Ghost” (published) and from Dark Cloud Press for “Sins of the Mother” (forthcoming). Woot!

New Words: 500
On the Red Riding Hood re-telling short story which, err, still doesn’t have a proper title.

3,611 / 6,500 (55.0%)

Club 100 For Writers
      9

500/day
      73

Still in recovery mode after Dragon*Con. My “to-do” list keeps growing longer and longer. So instead of trying to be pithy or insightful, here’s a public service announcement:

Help Katrina’s Homeless Pets

Transport Provided to Anywhere – Room Desperately Needed! (For the Animal Victims of Katrina)
There is transportation provided, with people ready and waiting, for upwards of 200 dogs and 150 cats so far rescued from the devastation of hurricane Katrina. What these animals need is a place to go. Kennels, boarding, vets offices, shelters with any extra space, foster homes and rescues. Even one or two open kennels would greatly help. From what we know, all animals have been vaccinated and are in good health considering the conditions. There are dogs and cats of every breed and size. Some are in groups of two, three or four, hailing from the same family, while some are solitary. ANY KENNEL SPACE AVAILABLE CAN CERTAINLY BE USED. These drivers are willing to move these animals ANYWHERE they need to go. Absolutely anywhere.
The current safe houses for these animals are being inundated and some of these pets will have to be euthanized if they are not moved to make room for the incoming animals. Please feel free to pass on this information everywhere. Every forum, every list, every community.
REMEMBER THESE ANIMALS WILL BE TRANSPORTED TO YOU.

If you know anyone, anywhere, that is willing to take in even one cat or dog, please have them contact Lynda at the information provided below.

They are also asking for ANY kind of donations for the animals: money, food, bedding, water, etc.

Please Contact Lynda V. at: 203-515-3024 (cell)
Home: 203-227-5308
Email: Lynda@portone.com

   

Writing Stuff
Received while I was at D*C:
90-day “Does not match the present needs of the magazine” from Book of Dark Wisdom.
13-day “It was a good read but . . . ” with invite to keep submitting from Son and Foe.

Payment for “The Wiggly People” from Dark Cloud Press. Very nice. These folks are turning out to be fantastic to work with. Very looking forward to seeing the anthology in print.

I’ve been meaning to try out the new “A Novel Conundrum” layout for a while. So, I spent a few hours customizing my LJ and then adjusting my website journal page display. I like it. It’s clean, with a nice, elegant navigation.

   

Writing Stuff

Got my check from Escape Pod for “The Life and Times of Penguin.” Hurray! And so reprint week continues . . .

Received notification that my ASIM submission made it past the second round of readings and is now waiting in the third for an editor to give it a home. Crossing fingers.

Did the final editing passes and put together my submission packet for the folktale that’s rolling off the Critters.org queue today. It’ll go in the mail later today. Just need to swing by the post office.

Club 100 For Writers
      46

Writing Stuff
Received my check from The Sword Review for “Second Daughter.” Yay!

Also, I queried Nowa Fantastyka about the contract, payment, and contrib. copies of the issue “All in My Mind” was published in, and got an immediate response from the editor. There was a bookkeeping snafu, but all are en route, or soon will be. Whew.

Did a pair of editing passes on the Korean folktale after a bout of research on Eastern folktales and mythology. But I think my muse may be tuckered out. I wanted to start on another folktale, but nothing struck my fancy. Maybe this would be a good time to get back to work on the novel.

Club 100 For Writers
41

fosteronfilm came home earlier than I thought last night. Yay! We had nummy gin and tonics, and watched I Heart Huckabees which was a dada, surreal, bizarrely existential film. If you asked me what it was about, I’d have to point and repeat “dada, surreal, bizarrely existential.” It’s a comedy. It’s like the sequel to Being John Malkovich, but without any of the same actors, characters, director, or producer. And otherwise having nothing whatsoever to do with it. More of a “soul sequel.” Definitely different. And different is something to be applauded, even if it left me giggling and reeling. And no, that wasn’t from the gin.

Writing Stuff
Had a submission make it past the first round of Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine. Now waiting to see if it makes it past round two.

And just got PayPal notification that Andromeda Spaceways paid me for my story “The Life and Times of Penguin” in the current issue. Hurray!

Did a couple critiques–one for Critters and one not.