Tag Archives: writing biz

Frantic Friday

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It’s the weekend. How did it get to be the weekend already? dean13 is flying in today and dude_the‘s plane comes in tomorrow, and the house looks like the aftermath of a rhinoceros tea party. And I’m still waffling on my Halloween costume. Gah!


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

   


Writing Stuff

Tentative sale to Aberrant Dreams, tentative in that the editors want me to do some tweaks to my story–I assume to tone down one or two of the more visceral scenes–to better match the PG13+ rating they’re aiming for with their publication. Younger target audience and all. But the editor was very enthusiastic, so I’m feeling quite optimistic that this “tentative” will turn into “definite.” Waiting on their editorial suggestions . . .

And also, the editor confirmed that the convention that they thought was canceled was indeed Esotericon and not Frolicon. I’d already had it confirmed that Frolicon was still solidly on track from the convention organizers, but glad to have that cleared up on all fronts. Still haven’t set a date, time, and place for the interview they want to do, but there’s no rush.

“The Better To . . . ” is up at Critters and the first crits are rolling in. Obviously, I need to put back in some of the worldbuilding material that I pulled out. So far, folks are having problems comprehending the major world change that is essential to the setting. Must rectify that in rewrite.

New Words: 560
Chugging along nicely on “Rue and Ruin” although I almost got sidetracked by a funny little story idea that fosteronfilm and I came up with.

Zokutou word meterZokutou word meter
4,520 / 7,500
(60.3%)

Club 100 For Writers
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500/day
      85

Adventures with Adderall: Day 15

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I’m cold. Very very cold. My computer informs me that it’s a chilly 48 outside, which is wrong for Georgia in October. Hobkin is glued to my leg under the blanket, after shoving his icy little paws on me, and I’m bundled up in thermal attire. Reminds me of why we moved from the Midwest. I hate this “I can’t get warm no matter what I do *shiver shiver shiver*” feeling, an all too frequent one in the frigid north. Plunged in the hot tub yesterday and stayed there until I turned into a sentient prune. Normally I can’t stand having my skin all textured and waterlogged, but I’m dwelling upon the virtues of spending today submerged in hot water.

Aside from a resumption of major fatigue and exhaustion, no adverse reactions to skipping a day of Adderall. Hence, I went back on it today. Interestingly, I’m experiencing effects similar to the first or second day on it–complete with a certain zinginess. Verdict on tolerance: yes. Verdict on dependence: not particularly. It seems odd to have a drop in tolerance after only a single day off, since caffeine takes longer to diminish than that. Could be psychosomatic, I guess.


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

   


Writing Stuff

Received a 138-day pass from Dark Discoveries with invite to submit again.

That rejection marks another milestone: my 500th rejection since I started seriously writing and submitting my fiction. In that time, I’ve wracked up 65 sales, won an award and been nominated for several, and had eleven reprints in four foreign languages. I’m very proud of what I’ve managed to accomplish. But at the same time, I’m rather dismayed at how far away I am from being able to make a livable income.

Cue agent call with news of a publisher . . . *crickets*

Sigh.

In less feeling-sorry-for-myself news, jackzodiac unveiled the cover for the Writers for Relief anthology. Designed by luridtraversal, isn’t it perfect?

Don’t eat . . . Ginger Snaps

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This has been making the rounds on my friends list, and I am naught but a lemming: Steve, Don’t Eat It!, the adventures of someone who has a cavalier disregard for botulism, E. coli, and the wellbeing of his gastro-intestinal tract. Funny and somewhat disturbing. As a friendly caveat, don’t read this if you’re about to sit down to a meal. There’s a pretty high gross-out factor.

Watched Ginger Snaps 2: Unleashed last night, which was appropriately fitting for the season, and surprisingly good. I liked the original Ginger Snaps when I first saw it. It was refreshing to find a different sort of werewolf movie, albeit one that was a little too happy with its symbolism concerning womanhood and growing up. The sequel, though still symbolism-happy, was darker, with an intense focus on the characters rather than the werewolf mythology, but without ever letting you forget the wolf. For a more in-depth review, read fosteronfilm‘s discussion of it.


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

   


Writing Stuff

Received an information-packed letter from my Cricket editor (*waves*). First up, two stories rejected (boo) and one–“The Red String”–sold (yay!). Also, an Indian folktale I sold them last year, “The King of Rabbits and Moon Lake,” is slated for publication in April (yay!). And lastly, they’re getting pretty full up on Asian folktales (snartleblast!).

Suddenly, my four submissions with them is down to one, and I’ve just added “research and write non-Asian folktale” to my list of things to do. I wish I could find a really good Egyptian mythology resource, something that would perk up the ole muse. Maybe I should break down and write something Greek. I really love Greek Mythology, but they’ve been so done. Ponder ponder ponder.

I also fired off a query to Andy Cox who has been sitting on a story I sent him to see if he’s come up with a decision on it. If he passes, I’m thinking it might be a good fit with a YA audience and want to send it for consideration in Cicada. I keep wondering if I should withdraw it. I hate pulling something from any editor that’s bought something from me before, but my logs say that he’s had it for . . . fourteen and a half months.

In other news, I stumbled across a very nice review by oneminutemonkey of Ascendancy of Blood at SF Site:

“Combining elements of Sleeping Beauty and vampire tales, Ascendancy of Blood is a quick, sharply-told, gorgeously-described chapbook by up-and-coming author, Eugie Foster. Her strength here lies in the lush prose and seductive imagery that permeates the pages.”
–Michael M. Jones

New Words: 500
Went riffling through my various in-progress and brainstorming idea files and came across a fantasy tale that I started last year, put down, and promptly forgot about. Opened it up, gave it a nice shake and rattle, and I’m hoping–if I can manage to finish it–that it’ll be a good fit for that heroic fantasy anthology. Unfortunately, I’m not quite sure where I was going with it before, and while I usually scribble something down on my WIPs before I set them aside just to avoid this sort of lapse, I didn’t for this one. So now I’ve got a nice set-up, and I can’t for the life of me remember what my intentions were. I’m pretty sure I had something in mind, but I’m drawing a big ole blank. I hate it when my brain goes bye-bye. Stupid brain.

Club 100 For Writers
      26

500/day
      83

Pawlish

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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

Zorro, Creature Comforts, Cereal Drama

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Went to see an advance screening of The Legend of Zorro last night, joined by shadesong, yendi, and their daughter, Elayna. Elayna’s an incredibly sweet little girl who is being brought up properly on swashbuckling derring-do. fosteronfilm‘s insistence upon sitting close enough to cause neck spasms meant that our viewing parties split up after we entered the theater so there was less getting to know these lovely folks than I would have liked. But at least now there’re proper faces to go with the LJs.

The movie itself was great fun. Catherine Zeta-Jones is an exquisite beauty, and they put her in absolutely stunning gowns with corseted bodices that displayed her ample assets to great effect. Antonia Banderas is likewise a pretty, pretty man who can still cut quite a striking figure in tight black pants and cape. His horse was also magnificent and managed to steal several scenes with equine humor. Then there were explosions and sword fights and train chases, all bigger-than-belief with an abundance of swash and buckle. As for the story and writing . . . well, err, it was a very pretty movie. *nods* If you really want to read a detailed criticism, check out fosteronfilm‘s write-up.

Netflix sent us the Creature Comforts TV series. It was cute, but not particularly funny. I had few urges to coo or squee, and only found myself smiling a couple times. So, while not a total yawn fest, not nearly as impressive as the original Wallace and Gromit shorts or Curse of the Were-Rabbit.

I was more amused by this bit of “cereal” drama (ganked from ardath_rekha). I can’t make up my mind whether the fireworks stemming from RPing cereal cartoons is for real or whether it’s just a very elaborate and well-coordinated hoax. I’m leaning toward “hoax” but the posters have “sincere” down pat.

Also:


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

   


Writing Stuff

Got an email from Aberrant Dreams asking me for an interview. They’re a fairly new SF/F/H webzine based out of Georgia; I’ve heard of them, even have a submission with them, but I hadn’t realized they were local. The reporter-guy suggested we meet up at Chattacon, except I’m not planning on going to it, and he also mentioned Frolicon, except then he went on to say that he’d heard it had been canceled. Uh? Last I knew, Frolicon was going strong. They’ve invited me to be a guest, and I haven’t heard anything from the convention organizers which would make me think that things were anything but forward charge. Perhaps he was thinking of Esotericon instead? Anyway, I told him “yes” I’d be happy to do an interview. Logistics still to be worked out . . . obviously. I was really tempted to query about the submission I had with them when I replied, but I was torn. Would that be considered bad writerly etiquette? I didn’t want to imply that I’ll do the interview only if they buy my story or anything like that, so, I didn’t query. But now the uncertainty is all pointy and nipping at me.

Also got an email from the editor of an anthology I recently subbed a story to. He’s holding my submission for the second round of readings and it’s now in serious consideration for a spot in the antho. I really appreciate getting status updates from editors. Makes for less twitching. Also, yay for being in serious consideration!

New review on Tangent by aimeepoynter and benpayne of Fantasy Magazine #1 with very nice things to say about my offering in that issue, “The Bunny of Vengeance and the Bear of Death”:
“If the cute animal personifications initially seem to promise a slight, warm fuzzy story, the impression is soon countered by the topics of their debate . . . the story is emotionally effective and, impressively, given its subject matter, makes its point through character and story rather than cold rhetoric. A strong story.” –Ben Payne

New Words: 400 on “The Better To . . .”
Sheesh, it feels like I’m just inching to the finish line, dragging myself by my fingernails with this one. But, in my defense, I also did another couple editing passes, which culled out some fatty bits.

Zokutou word meterZokutou word meter
6,442 / 6,500
(99.0%)

Club 100 For Writers
      21

500/day
      80

Adventures with Adderall: Day 4 & Zorro tickets

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Erm, I seem to have lost two pounds in the four days since I started taking Adderall. On one hand, woohoo! On the other, I’m not sure if that’s healthy. Took 20mg yesterday and was zippy for about four hours and then I crashed. Hard. Had an hour and a half nap, but when I woke up, I was back to being peppy and alert. Maybe I’ll hold off on asking for a 15mg scrip a little longer.

fosteronfilm and I got a complimentary pile of advance screening tickets to The Legend of Zorro for Monday. The showing is at 7:30PM at Phipps Plaza. We’ve got ten six extra, so if you’re a local and want to join us, drop me an email so we can arrange meet-up times and locations. (First email, first served.) [Edit: I’ll be counting down the number we have left above.]

   


Writing Stuff

jackzodiac is putting a charity anthology together for the hurricane victims of Katrina: Writers for Relief. I’ve got a story in it, a reprint of “A Little Soul Music,” and tstauffer has something in it too. And get this, we’ll be sharing a ToC with Brian W. Aldiss, Joe Haldeman, Nancy Kress, and Larry Niven! Can I just say “SQUEE”?

New Words: 100
Finished going over the Critters comments (and now I’m behind with my “thank you” notes). Did a minor rewrite and several editing passes on the Korean folktale, and it’s done. Rah! Going to make a mail run later today and send it out into the wild world.

Club 100 For Writers
      18

Adventures with Adderall: Day 2

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I’ve noticed Adderall makes me more interested in the world in general. It’s like I’ve suddenly re-discovered having fun doing stuff I knew I enjoyed but hadn’t had the time or motivation to follow-up with anymore–nothing major, things like being more eager to take an interest in socializing and current events without the sense of forcing myself through the motions. I’m more inclined to put the energy into delving into my “now what’s that all about?” impulses which are what initially drew me to Psychology and the sciences. It makes me feel . . . younger. I think I’ve forgotten how much energy I used to have, how it used to be when I wasn’t tired all the time. Seems a shame that I need a drug in order to recapture that vitality and enthusiasm. Stupid deteriorating human suit.

Still having cycles of the sleepies. I do think the peaks and lows may be due to the “time release” effect. Took my 20MG XR dose at 9AM yesterday. Got feeling pretty energetic and peppy for several hours, then at around 11:30 had an onset of the yawns. Not a total crash, but definitely a surge of tiredness. Perked right back up about ten minutes later, though. Also continuing to maintain a sensation of hyper-clarity which isn’t unpleasant, but isn’t completely benign either. It feels like I’m being . . . stretched, is the best way I can describe it. Going to drop back down to 10mg today. It might turn out that 15mg is the ideal dosage, which would be irksome ’cause I can’t split the 10mg XR capsules.

   


Writing Stuff

I got an email from Jason Sizemore, the editor of Apex, forwarding on the comments and the illustrations of “Oranges, Lemons, and Thou Beside Me” (slated for issue #4) from the artist, Augie Wiedemann. Get this, the artist liked my story so much, he donated an extra illustration for it! When I read that, my jaw fell off, bounced across the room, and rolled under the table. An artist was so inspired by my writing that he was moved to create artwork above and beyond what he was contracted for! It totally made my day. I can’t display the illustrations without the author’s permission, but take my word for it, they absolutely rawk.

New Words: +100 – 100
Did editing passes on “The Better To . . .” while I re-think what I want to do with the ending. What I’ve got is tighter and cleaner, but still not at zero draft. There’s a definite teeth-pulling feel to this one.

Club 100 For Writers
      16

IgNobel and City of If

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Haven’t had a drop of alcohol, but my wingstubs were bugging me, so I took a Clonazepam. Now I am loopy. When I try to walk, I stagger and stumble about with my balance all wonkified, and fosteronfilm informs me my speech is slurring. And there’s a certain mild euphoria going on. Wheeeee!

For something completely different: science is sometimes less than lofty. Check out the IgNobel awards. At last, recognition for the uninspired, pointless, and possibly profoundly underfunded scientific research studies. I’m especially amused by the Biology (“A Survey of Frog Odorous Secretions”) and Fluid Dynamics (“Pressures Produced When Penguins Pooh”) winners.

   


Writing Stuff

I’m waiting on pins and needles for a couple responses from editors, and as I did my little mailbox pilgrimages yesterday, I was thinking about a a great invention: a mailbox sensor that triggers a buzzer inside the house when a delivery happens. If I had one of those, I wouldn’t have to keep running back and forth between the window and the couch (if I’m lucky and have something outgoing) to see if the flag’s been dropped, or worse, making several fruitless trips to the mailbox and undoubtedly being perceived by my neighbors as the crazy mailbox lady*. This nifty device would ensure that I’d always know exactly when the mail carrier arrived.

That’s just sad, isn’t it? And I’d probably end up like one of Pavlov’s dog and start drooling every time the buzzer went off. Yes, my patience is fractured beyond the telling of it. That muscle don’t work so good.

Thanks to this post of tiellan‘s, I applied for a fantasy writing contract job. Had a phone interview for it yesterday (I cannot stress how very much I suck at phone interviews; written correspondence or face-to-face, it’s all good, on the phone, I fall apart) and I appear to have lined myself up a tentative contract gig. Details to be hammered out in the nearish future, but the plan is that I’ll be doing 6-8 weeks of essentially work-for-hire in Dec/Jan, writing 1-2K word chapters every week for The City of If–an interactive, online RPG gaming site. There’s potential for longer-term contract work if the initial stint goes well. I’m pretty jazzed.

Thanks to a French Critter, I was able to determine that my French reprint of “The Storyteller’s Wife” is either out, or about to come out in the October 2005, (#19) issue of Faeries. On an amusing note, I’m sharing a ToC with Darrell Schweitzer. The cover art:

* Most days I’m too lazy to put on sunscreen to go check the mail because I’m outside for all of half a minute. But exposing myself to the full-on noontime sunny day Georgia UV rays, even for half a minute, is a no-no, putting me at risk for a Lupus flare-up. To solve this conundrum of laziness, I often use a (bright yellow) parasol to shade me during my extremely brief mail outings. I, in my scruffy Resident Evil t-shirt, jammy pants, and parasol, undoubtedly present a curious sight to the neighbors.

Wingstubs and Joss Whedon, no relation

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Wingstubs giving me grief. Not sure why as I haven’t been keyboarding that vigorously lately, but my arms ache. Ow.

If you’re a Browncoat, clickie to see more proof that Joss Whedon is a directing god (link ganked from tomaqmar). By the sheer miracle of knowing what he’s doing, Joss saved money and time while shooting Serenity in Hollywood.

And, the official geek question of the hour: If Buffy and River were to duke it out, who would win?

   


Writing Stuff

Received:
– A form rejection from Guideposts for Kids. This was a long shot anyway. G4K is a Christian ‘zine and the story I subbed really . . . wasn’t.
– Also got a personal rejection from Escape Pod. Stephen requested to see more, actually asked to see a couple stories by name based on their title (from the bibliography on my website). Well, cool. I believe in giving editors what they want, so sent off one of them.
– Sale of “Kawaa, Naagan, and the Queen’s Diamond Necklace” to Dragonfly Spirit, a lovely new startup children’s ‘zine. My story is due out in their March 2006 issue. The editor is a fellow Critter and we’ve exchanged some friendly correspondence in the past so I’m quite pleased to be working with her.
– Two more Critters crits of my Korean folktale. It continues to be a crowd pleaser. Well, good.

Five idiosyncratic things about me

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I’ve been posting an unusually large (for me) number of memes recently–this is the third (fourth if you count the Shakespeare and Firefly ones as separate) in the last week. This isn’t a trend, really! I just thought the recent fads making the rounds were more interesting than the typical quizzes and memes that usually circulate.

So:
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