EugieFoster.com

Decadence is slumping on the couch on a Sunday morning, munching Salt and Vinegar potato chips, while watching people exercise on TV. Hah.

Just finished writing 32 thank you emails to critters for reviewing the stories I had up last month. Gah! But I’m caught up on thank yous now. I know I don’t have to send them, but I think if someone goes to the effort of reading my stories and sending me their feedback, the least I can do is write a quick “thanks!” to them.

And I say “please” and “may I” too.

Also, the chaotic disorder of my Dragon*Con costumes has been neatened up. After a convention, there’s always a disaster area feel to the house with hose, accessories, and rejected ensembles flung helter skelter every which way. But now the black vinyl has been hung up and put away, the corsets neatly stored back in the closet, and the various boots tucked back into their cubby holes. Whew. Life is beginning to return back to normal.

Matthew and I rented Time Machine (the 2001 version) last night and camped out upstairs in front of the 60″ with ice cream, chocolate sauce, and potato chips to watch it. Mmm. Heaven! Although the movie was a bit lame. It was pretty, though.

Or friend Al Cantrell took these pix of me in my chainmail wings on Friday at Dragon*Con.

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Been tipping over on the couch at an ungodly hour early in the evening all week and getting upwards of nine and ten hours of shuteye a night. And I still feel like my head is stuffed with marshmallo goo and that I’m in perpetual need of a nap. Sheesh. Dragon*Con was knock-down drag-out sure ’nuff, but it wasn’t that rough, was it?

As of this morning, “Of Two Minds in Lanais” picked up 25 critiques at Critters. A nice number, one I’m equipped to generate stats for and assimilate without too much fuss. Actually, on this one, I’ve been tweaking as they’ve been coming in, and the re-write is mostly done. I expect to send out the polished version tomorrow–tomorrow just in case another critique or two trickles in tonight.

I got 41 critiques on “It’s Only Springtime When She’s Gone.” Gah! Forty-one! My head’s spinning trying to sort them out. But I think this one is going to require a more extensive re-write. Not yet sure even how to start. Forty-one. That’s a lot of feedback. There may be a too much of a good thing situation happening here.

This weekend, I see myself writing a lot of thank you notes . . .

Here’s me tooting my own horn. TOOT!

Ann gave me printouts of the comments that Victoria Strauss and Kathleen O’Malley made about my story “Running On Two Legs.” I was walking on air after I read them.

From Victoria Strauss:
“It’s a beautiful story–touching without being sentimental, with chracters that come believably to life even in the short space of 7,500 words. It’s very well-written; the narrative flows smoothly throughout, and draws to a perfect close. The animals are wonderful; I was especially struck by how right the animal dialogue was–from Henry the busy greyhound, to weary Mama Skunk, to the birds–which, surely, would talk just this way if they could talk. I don’t have any structural criticisms at all. It seems right to me just as it stands.

“Thanks for giving me the chance to read this lovely story–it’s a privilege to encounter an up-and-coming writer at the start of her career.”

From Kathleen O’Malley:
“Thanks for the opportunity to read this wonderful story.

“It doesn’t need any improvement. It’s just fine. It’s emotionally wrenching, and yet joyful. At 7,341 words it’s longer than the 5,000 magic-word-number most markets like, but I’d send it to them anyway just as it is. It’s a very professional, very well-written story, with good characterizations, even of extremely minor characters, an interesting story-line, and a fine turn-of-phrase. If this writer can keep this up, she shouldn’t have any trouble breaking into pro markets.”

Now if only someone will buy it . . .

I was thinking about doing a day-by-day review of D*C ’02, but that would be way too long, so opted for extended highlights instead:

Concerts:
– (*)Jefferson Starship. Matthew’s the huge huge fan, although I like them too. He was bummed that Paul Kantner wasn’t there, though. The band missed the other stuff they were scheduled for–autograph signings, a retrospective panel. Part of that was Dragon*Con’s fault, part of it was them not wanting to do it. They were also supposed to do a press Q&A before the concert, but they didn’t. However, because we was hanging around backstage, waiting for the Q&A, I got snagged by Fingerman to go on stage to dance with the band. (Major kisses and hugs go to Fingerman! He’s an ubber sweetie.) Okay, by the time the concert was over, there were gobs of people lining up backstage to go on with the band, so when all was said and done, there was probably over a hundred+ people who got to go on stage, but I got dragged (willingly) back two more times after my first set. Woo! And Matthew filmed it!
– (*)The Cruxshadows. We were bummed that the Cruxshadows and Jefferson Starship got booked for the same night. Even though the Cruxshadows weren’t supposed to go on until after JS had finished, everything was late, so we thought we’d end up missing them. But they were still playing when we showed up! Apparently the events in the Regency were late too. I think we managed to catch over half their set, including “Deception,” “Annabelle Lee,” and of course their three encores “Marilyn My Bitterness,” “Monsters,” and “Heaven’s Gaze.” Rawk!

Ann Crispin and the Workshop:
– The Daily Dragon shares a base of operations with Guest Operations, so I saw a string of celebrities come by while I was working. Ann showed up on Thursday afternoon and after she got situated with Guest Op, she wanted me to come back to her room so she could give me the reviews for “Running On Two Legs” from Victoria Strauss and Kathleen O’Malley. She praised my story again, and that plus reading what they had to say had me floating.
– Good to see some of my DC2K writer’s group folks again, as well as meet some new faces.

The Panels I attended:
– (*)Robin Sachs (twice)
– (*)Armin Shimerman
– The B5 crew (Peter Jurasik, Richard Biggs, Andreas Katsulas, Tracy Scoggins, Jason Carter, Andrea Thompson, and Julie Caitlin Brown)

The Contests I went to:
– (*)The Miss Klingon Empire Beauty Pageant
– (*)The Dawn Look-Alike contest
– The Masquerade.

Shopping:
– The Splurge – A DVD of the uncut Buffy musical episode “Once More With Feeling.” They booth we bought it from had it playing in the background. The quality was superb, much better than the VHS we made of it.
– The Impulse – Return of Dawn graphic novel.
– The Planned One – Wishfire the Cruxshadows new CD.

And this was the short version. Gleep.

* = Read the Daily Dragon article online

Dragon*Con 2002 was a blast. The kind with gunpowder, flashing lights, and explosions. Man, I’m totally wiped.

Big, huge apologies to all the LJ folks like emuko, alladinsane, and mystrys and kaoslyon who I ran into in the corridors and didn’t have time to do more than hug and wave at before having to dash off. I was stretched way thin this year and feel really badly that I didn’t get a chance to gab longer with y’all.

To give you an idea of how time-crunched I was, guess how many parties I was able to hit? Got a number in your head? Okay, subtract it from itself and you got it. Yup. ZERO. I didn’t even go to the Dead Dog party afterwards. Sigh.

And I really needed to take today off. Nine hours of sleep is not enough to make up for all the shuteye I didn’t get.

Very brief highlights:
– Dancing on stage with Jefferson Starship (pictures to come)
– Meeting all the celebs back stage during the Jefferson Starship concert
– Being interviewed by SFN
– The Cruxshadows concert
– Getting the reviews back from Victoria Strauss and Kathleen O’Malley on my story “Running On Two Legs.” They were glowing. I’m going to include blurbs from them in my cover letter for “Running.”

I’ll write more about the con later. I’m too zoned to be coherent for much longer.

And hey, continue checking out the Daily Dragon. More articles will be added in the next few days, as will pictures. We didn’t have time to publish all the ones we got.

This will be my last entry before Dragon*Con. Hobkin’s asleep in his area, Matthew’s in the shower. We’ll be heading out to run errands in a few and then it’s all rush rush rush.

Anyone wanting to hook up with me or Matthew should look for us in room 219 of the Hyatt. If we’re not there, you can leave a message there for us. It’ll be open 24×7 during the con. It’s the media room and the home base of the Daily Dragon and there should always be someone on duty there. Whether they’re conscious and coherant, of course, is another matter.

See you at the Con!

I should be getting ready for Dragon*Con. I need to backup my Jornada, shower, and burn my sync software to CD. (I love my Jornada. I can take notes on the portable keyboard or longhand!) Plus we’ve got a slew of errands to run. But I’ve got this little fur demon sprawled out on my lap. Think in attitude and posture much like this, except on me instead of the kitchen floor:

Gah! A five pound animal has me pinned. Snark.

I’m trying to lavish as much attention and cuddles unto him before the Con as possible. He’s going to be locked up and alone for most of tomorrow thru late Monday, the poor little guy. I feel really badly about it. We’re also doping him up on Rescue Remedy, so maybe he’ll just loll around, all snookered up while we’re gone. Eep. I’m dosing my skunk!

So much to do. So very pinned.