EugieFoster.com

I couldn’t bring myself to write anything yesterday, so we put up Halloween decorations. Whee! Hobkin dove at one of the garlands, murder gleaming in his little eyes, when I let an end dangle too low. It was very cute. But it definitely reinforced: “must keep decorations out of reach of eager paws.”

It’s beginning to look a lot like Halloween . . .

And the publisher of Planet Relish called me about the Fiction Editor position. The interview was, well, it went. I’m not good at phone interviews. I’ll know his final decision in a few days. Either way, I’m okay with it. If I got it, it’d be fun, and excellent experience. But it’d also be a huge drain on my time, and it doesn’t have monetary compensation. *shrugs* So, I’m not that worked up about it.

Received a 71-day rejection from City Slab in my email in-basket this morning.

I’m extra bummed ’cause I’d heard that anything this market kept for longer than 30 days was under serious consideration, so I had my hopes up.

Also, this piece is going to be hard to place now. It’s extremely graphic and edgy. I hoped it would be a good fit with these folks.

And a niggling “WTF?” I sent them a SASE with my submission packet and they sent me an email reply? If they’d said in their guidelines that they responded via email I could’ve saved myself the stamp. Grumble.

But, on an up note, it was a nice rejection slip. They said I had an “engaging style” and invited me to send them something else.

Still, pook. A lot.

For some reason, really intense programming gets my wing spurs flaring up more than writing.

I’ve got an extra set of ribs in my neck. Freaky, huh? Matthew and I debate whether I’m growing wings or sprouting Cthulu tentacles. They create pressure on my thoracic nerve periodically, creating a painful tingling down my arms and in my hands. It was misdiagnosed initially as carpal tunnel. So, hurray, I don’t have carpal tunnel. But ow, I’ve got thoracic outlet syndrome.

And I’m having a flare-up today. Think that tingly, pins and needles sensation you get right as a body part of your choice starts falling asleep. Then make the pins and needles bigger and pointier. There. That’s what I’m feeling in my arms and hands. Ouch.

Stupid mutant ribs. Wish I’d hurry up and manifest as either an angel or a demon from the pit. Don’t care which. Just want the pain to go away.

Owie.

Finished up the program I was working on at work. It actually turned out pretty nifty. I put a few more bells and whistles on the final product than my end user requested, and she’s very pleased with them (and me).

Y’know, as sick as it sounds, I actually like programming. I start out with some task that needs to be accomplished, and then when I’m done, I’ve created this nifty new tool that does it.

Although I could use fewer days like yesterday where I was so sucked into fixing up my program that I didn’t even stop for lunch . . .

On writing:

Less warm-glowies on that front. I’ve hit a wall. Every new paragraph I crank out feels like I’m pulling teeth. And when I re-read what I have managed to force out, I’m disheartened by the level of crapitude I’m producing. Argh.

Slut-bitch-whore muse. Grr.

My brain is sludge. Work hard. Spent the whole day programming and debugging and I’m feeling cross-eyed and dazed from it.

So, here’s something pretty to look at:

Which ArchAngel are you most like?
brought to you by Quizilla

Gabriel. You’re most like the ArchAngel of Communication, in charge of things like telephones, libraries, internet, and the 411 phone menu. You’re organised and are not shy about inflicting that organisation on others.

Sunday. I have to go back to work tomorrow. Sigh.

I ought to be working on that Halloween story right now, but I’ve got this skunk sprawled out on my lap, and he looks so comfy, I hate to move him. I am, once again, pinned by a five pound animal.

We rented and watched Shadow of the Vampire last night. Our first official Halloween movie of the season, hurray!

Argh. That’s it. I’m procrastinating and I need to stop. I’m going to brew up a big ole pot of tea and write . . .

Currently, Hobkin is curled up in my lap, snoozing. But his head is right on the edge of my thigh, and I have to keep a hand on the back of his neck or his little head slides off and he ends up with his head lolling backwards. He doesn’t seem to mind, but I don’t see how that could possibly be comfortable. So, I’m trying to type with one hand.

We decided that it was worth it, so we broke down and actually bought the Nero Burning Rom 5.5 software yesterday. Internet price comparison good. We found a place that’s having a sale at $14.95, w/free S&H. This is software that retails for $69.95. Good deal.

Matthew and I watched Sugar and Spice last night, which was surprisingly good. Nothing deep, nothing meaningful, but silly and fun. I laughed right out loud.

Despite the fact that it’s not quite October, we’ve started the Halloween festivities. We bought these “break and bake” sugar cookies that have these little candy pumpkins, ghosts, and bat candy pieces sprinkled over them, and baked up a batch last night. Mmmm. Halloween sugar cookies. And we’re getting out the Halloween decorations this weekend. I love Halloween! This year’ll be an interesting trick. We’ll need to figure out a way to display all the decorations, while at the same time keeping them out of reach of an intrepid skunkling.

1200 words unto my Halloween story. Huzzah. Happy dancing. I’m writing again!

And we’re going to swing by the Science Fiction and Mystery Bookshop later this afternoon.

Major headache, popped some Extra Strength Excedrin and slamming mugs of Empress of China tea, so if the analgesics don’t get it, the caffeine will.

Got a note from one of the people in my writer’s group. It’s unsubstantiated rumor currently, but the source is dependable. He knows Warren Lapine (well, so do I, but I think he knows him better).

From his email:

“DNA Publications. Rumor has it they’ve been sending around flyers saying that they’re having financial trouble, and if they don’t get enough new subscribers, they’re going to have to cut two of their magazines.

“This, as far as I’m concerned, would be *disastrous* to the semi-pro publishing field. DNA has done spectacular things, and I’m betting that if they cut two magazines, it’d be Mythic Delirium–the only SF poetry magazine in existence these days–and Fantastic Stories”

AGH! DNA publications is the bastion of solid up-and-coming genre publishing. For people who don’t know them, their stable of magazines includes:
Weird Tales, Dreams of Decadence, Absolute Magnitude, Fantastic Stories, Science Fiction Chronicle, and Mythic Delirium. They also recently purchased Whole Cat, a non-genre, holistic cat fancier publication.

Buy magazines, people! Support genre publishing. Ack.

The state of the publishing industry = depressing.

So, last night during my DC2K writers group chat, we decided on a new challenge: Write a Halloween story by 10/17. This challenge has caught my imagination (Halloween is my second favorite holiday of the year–and before I met Matthew, it was my very favoritest), so I’ve already started on it. I’m about 500 words in, and now I’m pondering where I want it to go. I’m pleased to be creating something new again. Nice musey musey musey.

Hobkin’s a fuzzy lump on my lap. Need to get the camera up and going again. Prime cute moments have missed their opportunity to be captured unto perpetuity. Fortunately, he keeps raising the cuteness bar, so I think we’re good.

And hey, I just discovered that the LJ community LJdrama appears to have been suspended. Okay, it was a guilty, evil pleasure. But why was it suspended? Bummer.

Matthew and I watched Monsters, Inc. last night. The Blockbuster (hiss) around the corner runs these “Rent 10 movies for $25 and get a free DVD.” If you do the math, you’ll see that it’s a pretty sweet deal. Last time we did it, the free movie was Shrek. This time, it’s Monsters, Inc.. Go, Pixar! The next one will be Spiderman, but, quite frankly, I don’t think we’ll go for that one. Neither of us were big enough fans of Spiderman to feel impelled to own it, plus by that time, I think we’ll be scraping the barrel for movies we want to rent.

I’m feeling much better now (said in that spooky voice from the little girl in Sixth Sense). Ready to take on the world. Or, lounge around and watch movies with Matthew and Hobkin.

Had a nice relaxing day yesterday, napping and lying about. Matthew went out and rented Serendipity (at my instigation) and then we camped out on the couch, with popcorn and warm drinks, and watched it while Hobkin lounged on top of us.

Twas a flawed movie. Fun, but I’m glad we didn’t pay money to see it in the theater. Very predictable, with more than its share of sap, but a good “Eugie’s sick” sort of film.

I’m on the mend. I decided to take another day off from work. Just going to take it easy and cruise into the weekend.

Hoping that I’ll be well enough by Saturday to make a trip into town to the Science Fiction and Mystery Bookshop.

Also got a note back from Jane Jewell at the SFWA. She’s expediting my membership application. Looks like I squeaked enough to get some oil.

And got a note from Planet Relish. They’re looking for a fiction editor and I sent a note to them saying I’d be interested in their consideration. It’s a volunteer position (“for now,” they said) and a semi-pro webzine, but it looks like it’d be good experience. Not to mention fun. They sent a questionnaire to all their applicants and from the answers I sent back, I’m short-listed on their “to call” list. It’s nice, for a change, not to feel stressed about an interview. I’d like this opportunity, but it is unpaid and would take up a huge amount of my time, so if I don’t get it, there’s plenty of argument for “it’s for the best.”