Agh! This month is zipping by too quickly! I can’t believe Christmas is next week! Haven’t sent out any Christmas cards (and I think it’s past time to concede that I’m not going to this year), and hardly anything is wrapped. Also, things are ramping up at work. Had a few days last week that felt like session was already upon us. (Eek!) And I definitely want to finish the WiP before session begins.
But, in the flurry of December, fosteronfilm and I have managed to catch a couple of fun flicks. We attended the Sweeny Todd advance screening on the 5th as well as Enchanted last week. Delightful pair of movies…in totally different ways—although the idea of a Sweeny Todd/Enchanted double feature appeals to me in a twisted fashion, and hey, they’re both musicals!
But between them, I liked Sweeny Todd best. Tim Burton’s just got a macabre gift for lushly beautiful cinematography, and with a stellar cast of Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, and Alan Rickman, it was gruesome, lurid, and decadent—a gothic fantasy of a movie. Check out fosteronfilm‘s review.
After the final scene, I leaned over to Matthew and giggled: “Everybody die. Die die die”—my favorite mantra when I’m stressed out, overwhelmed, and being attacked on every side by hamsters. (I’ve found it works much better for lowering the blood pressure than “om mani padme hum.”) Matthew’s heard me mutter it under my breath on several occasions, and it happens to also be the perfect synopsis of the movie’s plot as well as its theme. Hee!
Writing Stuff
Received:
• 240-day SALE of “The Tortoise Bride” to Cricket. This makes my 13th sale to the Cricket Magazine Group and my 11th to Cricket magazine. Woot! I hadn’t sold anything to the Cricket folks in over a year, and I was beginning to fear I’d lost my appeal to them. So I was verily ecstatic to get their stamp of approval on this one.
‘Course now I don’t have anything in their slush pile. Wonder if there’s any chance I can get my current WiP and a new folktale written before session starts…not very likely, but I know I’m capable of producing that amount of wordage in that timeframe; I’ve done it before—although I think that was before I agreed to helm Tangent and now The Fix. Hmmm.
• 95-day pass from IGMS. A bit dismayed at this one. I’ve sold to them before, and this was a form rejection from the assistant editor. Trying not to engage in rejectomancy…
• 147-day complimentary and personal “not for us” from Spacesuits & Sixguns with invite to submit more.
• 139-day kindly no on a reprint from Rachel at Podcastle after holding it for a second round.
New Words:
• 1500 words on “Morozko.” (4272/3500) And, yep, my word-count-fu is totally on the fritz. I’m just hitting the last scene. Undoubtedly there’ll be room for culling when I start into my rewrite/editing, but at 1K+ over my original estimate, I don’t think I should be trying to gauge story lengths until I recalibrate my story-length-o-meter.
Note on rejectomancy here….
I’ve almost sold them before, and got a very similar result this time, 96 days or so to a form from “The Editors”. In fact, almost everyone I’ve talked to lately has gotten that….so it’s not just you.
Note on rejectomancy here….
I’ve almost sold them before, and got a very similar result this time, 96 days or so to a form from “The Editors”. In fact, almost everyone I’ve talked to lately has gotten that….so it’s not just you.
I watched “Enchanted” a week before I saw “Sweeny Todd”. Crossover characters startled me!
More recently, I saw “The Signal,” for a complete change of pace!
I watched “Enchanted” a week before I saw “Sweeny Todd”. Crossover characters startled me!
More recently, I saw “The Signal,” for a complete change of pace!
theauthor.biz
Hi Eugie, Robert N Stephenson here. I have a new website up http://www.theauthor.biz which features the rooms of writers and about 150 words bty them on what the room means to them. If is a free site, with stories and articles from which new and even established writers can learn. I would be honoured to have your writing room displayed with a few words.
To date all fiction and articles are donated to the site by notable writers – usually these works are reprints and are not likely to sell on to paying markets. Some writers have been quite generous, simply because they believe in what I am trying to achieve – which is helping and creating better writers.
The site stays free because of some sponsors covering all the hosting fees and web space, which is already becoming quite sizable.
If you think you might like to participate, and even send others over for a read and maybe learn something, that would be great. The two best writing spots have to be Joe Haldeman’s and Douglass Prestons – eventually there will be a full top ten, but you would have to admit the two mentioned are pretty cool. Hope to hear from you soon.
Robert (I have been on Speculations for 10 years, and it is still a pretty cool site itself)
theauthor.biz
Hi Eugie, Robert N Stephenson here. I have a new website up http://www.theauthor.biz which features the rooms of writers and about 150 words bty them on what the room means to them. If is a free site, with stories and articles from which new and even established writers can learn. I would be honoured to have your writing room displayed with a few words.
To date all fiction and articles are donated to the site by notable writers – usually these works are reprints and are not likely to sell on to paying markets. Some writers have been quite generous, simply because they believe in what I am trying to achieve – which is helping and creating better writers.
The site stays free because of some sponsors covering all the hosting fees and web space, which is already becoming quite sizable.
If you think you might like to participate, and even send others over for a read and maybe learn something, that would be great. The two best writing spots have to be Joe Haldeman’s and Douglass Prestons – eventually there will be a full top ten, but you would have to admit the two mentioned are pretty cool. Hope to hear from you soon.
Robert (I have been on Speculations for 10 years, and it is still a pretty cool site itself)
Happy Holidays, Eugie! This is from me and not the good baron, my alter-ego! *G*
Happy Holidays, Eugie! This is from me and not the good baron, my alter-ego! *G*
Look on the bright side. At least your word-count-fu hasn’t dwindled as badly as mine of late. In the last six months my top monthly word count has been 400. Ugh!
I might have to resign as managing editor of Fear and Trembling just so I can start writing fiction again. My multi-tasking skills doth sucketh much. 🙁
Look on the bright side. At least your word-count-fu hasn’t dwindled as badly as mine of late. In the last six months my top monthly word count has been 400. Ugh!
I might have to resign as managing editor of Fear and Trembling just so I can start writing fiction again. My multi-tasking skills doth sucketh much. 🙁