The Volunteer Vixens photo shoot on Saturday went well. The swimsuit/bikini shot was done at a private residence. Our wonderful hostesses had a backyard pool/spa/waterfall–a gorgeous, decadently lush setting. Absolutely perfect. I did, however, get nailed by a couple bitey bugs within minutes of stepping outside and experienced a mild allergic reaction to an abrasion on my leg from the sand or rocks around the spa. Typical. The outdoors hates me. But, I am assured that the red welts can be PhotoShopped out.
After we broke for lunch, we met up for the cover shot, which was at the MMI warehouse. The theme, to match the charity, the Susan G. Komen for the Cure breast cancer foundation, was pink and black. Now pink is not a color found in my wardrobe, and I was at something of a loss–not wanting to buy a pink dress or somesuch that I’d never wear again. Thanks to my fellow Volunteer Vixen, Ariel, I had a fallback–a pink off-the-shoulder top, but I didn’t know what to wear with it. So on Friday, I went tearing around the house, trying to put together an outfit.
And, serendipity. I found a unitard I’d forgotten about–part of a costume for a modern dance show lo these many years ago when I was still in shape–shoved away in a drawer. The original costume was a white unitard dyed for the performances in streaks of (supposedly) purple and red, but the dye ended up mostly . . . pink. It’d also had dark, wing-like streamers of cloth sewed to shoulders, leg, and side which had been summarily removed at some point before I stored it away. But yes, there it was: a pink unitard.
La! So for the cover shot, I wore this:
Writing Stuff
I’ve come to the realization that I’m still juggling too many hamsters. The lil squeakers are beginning to get nippy when I drop ’em, and I feeling more and more guilty when I can’t keep them all in the air. Therefore, sadly and with reluctance, I’ve resigned from my position as The Town Drunk‘s assistant managing editor. I enjoyed seeing that side of the publishing biz and sampling its wares (slush diving!), but there are only a finite number of hours in my week, and all my hamsters are eating into my writing time.
I’m very grateful to britzkrieg for the opportunity and experience.
I’ve also gone on hiatus at Critters. I haven’t done a crit. there in ages, and I feel too guilty to post my stuff without giving back in return. Plus, I’ve been wanting to focus more on my DC2K and Critter Litter writers group.
Received:
– Contract from Tekno Books for the electronic rights for six more stories: “The Tiger Fortune Princess,” “The Storyteller’s Wife,” “Returning My Sister’s Face,” “The Bunny of Vengeance and the Bear of Death,” “The Wizard of Eternal Watch,” and “All in My Mind.” This is for the for the project they’re doing with Sony to put together an electronic short fiction website to promote Sony’s new e-reader device. Hurray.
– Email from editor Jetse de Vries letting me know that my last submission to Interzone made the first cut and he’s holding it for a second read. Crossing my fingers.
– Payment for “Body and Soul Art” from the ASIM Best of Horror anthology.
– Payment for “The Wizard of Eternal Watch” from the Best New Romantic Fantasy 2
Published:
– “Body and Soul Art” in the Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine Best of Horror.
please tell me you’re wearing that to D*C this year? 😀
Urg! Only if I have to for a calendar publicity event. I had every intention of folding away that pink unitard and forgetting about it for another decade (or until the drawer monster made off with it).
Va-va-voom! Nice photo, Eugie.
And good luck with Interzone!
*smooches* Thanks, sweetie!
Would a low wolf whistle be inappropriate?
Hee! I’ll let it slide just this once
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smokin hawt! work it girl!!!!!
I was sorry to hear you are leaving TTD. After seeing that photo, I’m very sorry 🙂
Hope you make the Interzone cut — that ain’t easy.
Thanks, hon. I hated the necessity of resigning my TTD post, but I’ve really overextended myself of late. I’ve been running too fast and too hard for a while now, and I just couldn’t bring myself to set anything aside, hoping instead that things would get better if I could just finish this one big task or get past this major deadline. But, of course, as soon as I made one deadline or cleared an item off my plate, another one (or more likely, another half dozen) would crop up. In the end, it was my writing time I ended up sacrificing, something that’s utterly counterproductive.
Meh. I suspect I’m still overextended, but I wanna see if I can manage my current allotment of hamsters before setting any more scampering into the wilds.
Don’t worry about dropping those hamsters, Eugie. I haven’t critted for Critters in probably six months. Heck, I haven’t even hardly worked on any fiction since my computer exploded. I just don’t have the time if I’m going to get some writing going that will get me out of my horrid day job. Learning how to say no is a good thing! Just do it!
You’re right, of course. But it’s much easier to say “no” to things I don’t want to do. I’m in an amazingly fortuitous situation where everything I’ve taken on I genuinely enjoy and/or find worthwhile. So I find myself confronted with having to lay aside one positive in order to have time to do another. I feel so silly complaining that I’m overwhelmed by an overabundance of gratifying and pleasurable occupations, but there you have it. Sigh.
Don’t feel guilty Eugie. It’s admirable to learn your limitations and to stick to them. I too have struggled with the word no, but I have found that I feel much better about myself doing a few things to the best of my ability instead of many things only as well as time allows. Be proud of yourself. And I’m so jealous that you have the guts for a bikini shot.
I know, I know. You’re absolutely right, and I really ought to have started laying things aside before now. But I still feel the need to wallow in guilt for a bit longer.
Sigh. I wish I had more hours in the week or that I didn’t have to sleep.
“And I’m so jealous that you have the guts for a bikini shot.“
I wouldn’t actually call it “guts” so much as great faith in the PhotoShopping abilities of the calendar’s coordinatrix
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Re: Teh New Hotness
“And you were worried about the bikini shot?!“
Hee! Thanks, sweetie. Actually, I’m still worried about the bikini shot, as I haven’t seen the main photographer’s pictures yet.
“In fact, I haven’t written for months.“
That totally sucks. I hope Writing You returns from her walkabout soon, primed with inspiration and raring to write.
For the past few months, I’ve been thinking about going inactive at Critters, too. I just keep falling behind, and with everything else I’m involved in now, it’s just not on my top to-do list. I know plenty of writers now to swap stories with if I need anything critiqued. I’m still trying to see if I can at least get a few done this month, and if I can’t do enough to catch up, I’ll go inactive. Resetting it to 0 just didn’t work the last time–I still fell behind all over again.
Oh, and regarding calendar. When’s it coming out. Where. And can I get it in time for Dragon*Con (or will it be out at Dragon*Con)?
It will definitely be out in time for Dragon*Con. They’ll be for sale at the D*C store as well as online. We’re still doing photo shoots for it through June, but once those are done, it’s just a question of choosing the pictures, getting them properly formatted, and then sending them to the printer. So hopefully it’ll be out well before the convention, but definitely, definitely in time for D*C!
Awesome! Have that autograph pen handy. 😉