Jinxed it

Just got the rejection letter from LCRW. Guess what day it was mailed?

Ah, well. I'll check it over and figure out where to send it next. I want it in the mail before April 1.

Hope you're having fun this weekend. Mine was interrupted by a phone call at 9:30am for Village Business. Sigh, can't a guy sleep for 12 hours around here?

You load sixteen tons, and whadda get?

To give you a measure of just how much work has gone insane, so far this week I have 17 hours of OT. With the work I have on my desk, I expect to break a record at my current job and go over 20 hours this week (my personal all time best on OT is 55 hours, I never want to go back to those hours again).

On top of that, I've been following the discussions on SFWA President elections over on Scalzi's blog (link on righthand side), and the link to the SFF.net boards. If you have a vote, please vote for John for President and the write-in candidate for VP.

Left hand, meet right hand

I'm not usually political here, but I have to post this on this site.

Someone needs to explain to the President that since they haven't done anything criminal, and have nothing to hide, they shouldn't be worried about having to testify under oath, with a transcript, and in front of cameras. Just like they've told all of us with the various eavesdropping revelations, right?

(edited per LBB 03-22-07 3:04pm) Own Petard = hoist

Submit In-tion

Well, this will jinx it all.

The Pirate Story is still at Shimmer, and the Slush God is very prompt, so I'll take that as a good sign. The other two stories have been at their markets since January, one magazine had an editorial shuffling, which I was worried about and now feel very good about. I'm not kissing butt here. Ann VanderMeer is an excellent editor and I think her position at Weird Tales and what they're doing there look like a good match. I don't have my reponse card back from LCRW, but then with my past submissions they send it all back together in the SASE.

I've got a lot to read between now and Sunday's writer's group. Work is relaxing a bit (hey, only 6 hours of OT so far). Hopefully the rest of the week will go well. I need to type in all my notes for "Winter Occupant/7-Year Itch," that may break the log jam in my head.

Also I finished the John Scalzi books (Old Man's War and Android's Dream), which should also help with that log jam as well. I like John's work, but I've posted before that there are some authors that when I read their stuff my mind shuts down. It has nothing to do with the quality of their writing, but how it affects me. With some authors I'm constantly stopping reading to write down notes (which normally have nothing to do with what I'm reading, but story ideas and muse whisperings). I don't have that happen when I'm reading Scalzi, but I really like his books. Just a thing.

Overheard lines

I think the TV is on Turner Classic Movies, and they're talking about Elizabeth Taylor, and I think that's Paul Newman's voice, and I swear he just said, "... and she was a fully functional voluminary." (as in voluptuous and illumunary). But then, I am not really watching the TV.

Camel Drive

Tobias Buckell points out a very worthy charity, The Camel Book Drive for an actual Camel Train Bookmobile that serves rural Kenyan populations.

I will also include the Adopt a Library.org which has a list of libraries in the US that also accept books (and what they're looking for). Many of these are American Indian Tribal Libraries, but there are also Correctional Facilities and some general rural libraries that would be more than happy to accept your used books (although they ask for them to be in good shape and hopefully current).

I've also donated to local libraries (they can always use good books), and some local libraries will also collect to donate to other libraries (such as those listed on Adopt a Library.org). Sometimes I give money, sometimes it's boxes of books.

World Gone Mad

Just what the heck happened today? My platesetter can't image this file correctly with absolutely no reason for it not to (works once, doesn't work the next moment). And it's weird stuff on the plate that's not in the file. And then the other client has decided to ignore all my warnings and, "well, try and make it work" (I got news for ya, it won't). Then a third is buring me with requests. Ugh! Massive overtime here I come, again.

Research! Science!

Ah, the last refuge of the eternal procrastinator, I mean, that immensely important function we as writers must make sure we do.

I ran the story by my wife, who knows a little more about the fey than I do (but I'm learning). She was bothered by my choice of fairy to do the nasty work of the story. Right now, the POV we follow for most of the story ends up being hung by one foot from the ceiling (chandelier hook) until he's dead, and then other nastiness may occur.

So, I took to the books. Ah, Katherine Briggs and Brian Froud (also Terri Windling), where would we be with out you? Seems I was right that a brownie can be very nasty when upset. While most of the stories related and cited have the brownie leaving their chosen domicile when offended (offering clothes seems the most common way), there are hints of other actions they may take. There was even a story about a brownie killing to avenge another brownie's life. So, brownies it is.

And I'm not talking the girl scout equivalent of cub scouts, or those fudge-y things with green specs, I'm talking about kicking butt and takin' down names fairies. Don't cha be messing with them.

Story Bone (from and for Dan)

Here's a Bone from a long-time friend, Dan, who reads this blog but seldom comments. *Cough*

Anyway, Dan read a news story about a TV broadcast specifically programmed for aliens, Cosmic Connexion. This isn't Univision, this is Errai-vision or whatever. Bascially, it'll take about 44 years for the signal to reach Errai, a star in the big dipper. If memory serves, this is our closest neighbor with a known planetoid system and a star like our own. Now, we could discuss the concept of just how long a show stays on the air, (I think MASH was 10 years, and that was considered a very long time), or what aliens might think of summer re-runs, if they would be at a point that they would be able to receive and process such a signal (after all, TV is less than a century old and we've already changed technology for it twice (color and now HDTV) or any of the other silliness. But Dan would like to call out what a conversation would be like that is 50 years until you get a response. And that civilization would be the equivalent of our own, so no major advances in medicine (always a dubious thing in SF), no major tech transfers (which is also not necessarily so, as different events could lead to different conclusions which make the same tech possible, such as if we had gone with direct current instead of alternating current, our economy would be different, but our tech maybe the same). Anyway, so there it is. Almost a hundred years in between saying "Hi" and having "How are ya?" being delivered.

Alone by the side of the road

Well, the Muse must have gone off to drink for St. Patty's day, 'cause I've got nothing. I've been looking at this blank screen for hours. Nothing. I've got a working title, "Winter Occupant." Not spectacular, but there it is. I've got a new file on the hard drive. But not much else. Sigh. Too much distraction, not enough umph. Maybe I need a brain break. TV here I come.

Story Bone

Okay, here's a complex one. This is from a true story, so let me try and reconstruct the true story out of my take on it. This is something I heard on the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corp) station I can get for most of my commute, I think it was on "As It Happens."

Two friends go hiking/skiing on a mountain. They get caught in bad weather, and an avalanche occures. Our POV character swims on the rampaging snow, but ends up getting his legs caught in the flow at the end. So he's trapped. He's also broken one leg. Everything but his skis, ski poles, and backpack are gone. And it's getting dark, and a blizzard is decending. He can't see his friend, no matter how much he calls out. Until night falls. And then he can hear his friend. His friend says he's going for help, since he can't pull our POV out. Our POV has to survive (melts snow using his body heat, creates a wind break, has to get his energy bars out). The blizzard continues all day, but our POV is able to keep on top of the snow, and at night, he hears his friend again. They ty to be encouraging to each other, but his friend is cagey about if he got help and when they'll arrive. The next day is bright and clear, no sign of our POV's friend. He does see a chopper, and spreads out his coat to try and signal them. That night the POV's friend returns and says a rescue is coming. Our POV just has to last long enough. Our POV doesn't see his friend, but only hears him. On the fourth day of this, our POV is able to escape from the snow, makes a splint using the poles, and crawls down the mountain. At night he friend keeps coming to talk with him. On the six day he is rescued. No sign of his friend. They don't find the friend's body until the spring, and determine he died in the avalanche.

True story. I know what and how I would change it into a ghost story, but I don't have the time to write it right now. And it needs to be free.

Well, I was finally able to find the link to the story. Here it is. I was remembering some of it wrong, but hey, it was almost a whole year ago. Anyway, you can listen to it (if you have RealAudio, which I don't). The story is "AVALANCHE SURVIVOR."

Mind Numbing Hours

The past three weeks have seen not only record OT work, but also major Village stuff. So basically I've been eating dinner around 9pm each night. Not good for output.

On the plus side, the muse is tapping her foot, waiting for me to get started on the story, so that's what we'll be doing next.

And with winning the ARC, the negative of such is that there is no tracking number I can obsessively check to see where it is. This is unlike Amazon, etc. Yeah, so I'm obsessive compulsive about this one thing, sue me. Anyway, I'll just sit here all twitchy, waiting.

But, on the plus side, I have #492 of John Scalzi's "You're not fooling anybody..." I was the person who snagged the "Only 3 Left" copy on Amazon. I also had a CD that held up shipping.