Mostly writing and a bad movie

Got Miss Congeniality 2 from Netflix on a whim and watched it last night. My advice to anyone considering it: don’t. I like Sandra Bullock, but ugh, that was a poorly made piece of fluff. I didn’t expect it to be deep or brilliantly insightful or anything, but I hoped it would be funny. It was both not funny and in dire need of a rigorous editorial hand. It would have benefited from a severe chopping.

   


Writing Stuff

183-day SALE of “Mistress Fortune Favors the Unlucky” to the Bash Down the Door and Slice Open the Badguy anthology. This tongue-in-cheek high fantasy anthology, published by Fantasist Enterprises, looks like it’s going to be a lot of fun.

This was the story that I submitted to a market that requested a rewrite but ultimately rejected it, and then emailed me a month or so later changing their mind and wanting it. Since I’d already sent it to BDtD&SOtB by then, I told the editor it wasn’t currently available, but if the market that was considering it passed, they could have it. Nice to know that this story had a home regardless, but I’m very pleased to have sold it to the anthology. This was a light-hearted tale to write, and I think it’ll fit well with an anthology of similarly whimsical fantasy stories. Plus I get to share another ToC with dsnight, hurray!

Received the edits of “Sins of the Mother” from Dark Cloud Press and approved them.

And I got fan mail! A listener of the podcast of “The Life and Times of Penguin” from Escape Pod dropped me an email. He really liked it and found it touching. His note totally made my day. If you haven’t discovered the fabulosity which is Escape Pod go now and download. It really is something wonderful–being able to hear stories read out loud in the classic storyteller mode. Yes, I’m aware of the irony of the “classic storyteller” format being presented in a state-of-the-art, high-tech medium, but hey, I like irony. Go listen.

I’m going to burn the MP3 of “Penguin” to a CD and send it to my in-laws. I think they’ll enjoy it. And, while their computer is capable of downloading and playing MP3s, I don’t think they’d be able to manage the feat. Plus, they’re still on dial-up. Fortunately, they ought to be able to cope with a CD . . . although I might need to convert it to a .wav file so they can play it on their stereo. Totally love and adore my in-laws, but they’re such Luddites.

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17 Responses to Mostly writing and a bad movie

  1. tstauffer says:

    Isn’t fanmail great? I’ve gotten one from a guy who liked one of my stories in the Flashshot: Year One anthology. The editor forwarded it to me. And yes, it made my day. I think the guy thought it weird when I e-mailed him a thank you. Maybe I need to stick to being reclusive.

    • Eugie Foster says:

      I always respond to fan mail. After all, if someone took the trouble to compose a note saying “your story really worked for me” then I figure it behooves me to say “thank you.”

      ‘Sides, they can’t think you’re that weird, after all, they started it!

  2. mroctober says:

    Congrats on the sale! That’s a nice paying anthology too, I remember.

    So are you a professional/active member of SFWA yet?

    • Eugie Foster says:

      Yep BDtD&SOtB pays pro rates. Very nice. And theoretically, they pay on acceptance. I say “theoretically” because their Modern Magic anthology was supposed to be on acceptance as well and I have yet to receive payment for my story in that. Sigh.

      So are you a professional/active member of SFWA yet?

      Yepper. I have been for over a year now.

  3. zugenia says:

    I am *so* with you on Miss Congeniality 2. I rented it because MC1 makes me laugh every time I see it, and I’m always surprised at how much I enjoy Sandra Bullock onscreen. But that movie was beyond bad. It’s the kind of bad that requires a concerted effort to avoid being at all good. I think a lot of it had to do with the fact that, structurally, Sandra’s “romantic parter” wasn’t allowed to be a romantic partner, because she was a black woman. But they still put them in these conventionally sexually tense scenes, without using the tension. If they had just let the two of them get it on, or at least consider it, the movie could have been a million times better.

  4. Mazel tov on the sale! Sounds like a fun antho.

  5. nojojojo says:

    And here’s where the shame kicks in…

    I listened to that Escape Pod episode just last week, and absolutely loved the story. Had meant to send you an email or drop you a blog note about it on Thursday when I finished it (had to spread it over a couple of bike commutes to and from work), but forgot. So here’s one more fan mail; I *loved* that story, and it made me bawl like a baby. (Not a safe thing to do while riding a bike, but anyway =P)

  6. madwriter says:

    >>183-day SALE of “Mistress Fortune Favors the Unlucky” to the Bash Down the Door and Slice Open the Badguy anthology. This tongue-in-cheek high fantasy anthology, published by Fantasist Enterprises, looks like it’s going to be a lot of fun.<<

    Congratulations! I loved the submission guidelines to that anthology and thought it would be great fun to send them something, but alas, I never thought up anything I thought would be good enough.

  7. Anonymous says:

    Congrats. And I thought MODERN MAGIC was “payment on acceptance of final revision” or something like that. At least, I figured that was the reason for no mullah. Not whinging, yet…

    A couple of months ago, my mother complained I hadn’t updated the blog in weeks. “But there’s a new posting today,” I said. She insisted all she saw were posting from two weeks before.

    “Well, did you try ‘refreshing?'” I asked her.

    “Huh? I can do that? How?”

    Love my mom, but totally clooooless.

    Pat Kirby

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