Blogetary (Weblog + Commentary = Blogetary)

I’m up at Everyday Weirdness for the day, my poem, I Dream … Eyes: http://everydayweirdness.com/

If you read this AFTER July 29, 2010, then try plugging this in instead: http://everydayweirdness.com/e/20100729/

I met Rachael de Vienne through the author group at Drollerie Press. You can read about her here. Besides being a goat-herding pixie, she is also a fantasy writer and author of Pixie Warrior. A while ago, after she so graciously read my story, Love’s Clothing (out in the February 2010 issue of Aoife’s Kiss), she asked if I’d be interested in writing a guest blog for her. Well, I cogitated some, and then some more, and a few months later (oops!) I came up with something. And she has very kindly posted it on her blog, which you can find here.

Wasn’t sure what I was going to write at first, but decided writing about what I have been learning would be best. And maybe it will help someone else out there.

Minutes for the July 2010 meeting are now posted on MySpace and you can find them here. I don’t normally post here about the writers club anymore, I know. BUT, since we’re going to be in the West Hollywood Book Fair, I wanted to get out the news in as many places as possible. So, if you’re part of us, come get involved!

1) I am beginning to suspect that some markets have me on auto-reject. I don’t think they even bother to read what I’ve sent. And if that’s the case then so be it. It’s not honest, but that’s just way it is and there are plenty of other markets out there who do seem to like what I write.

2) I have a poem coming out on Everyday Weirdness next week. I’ll put up the link when it’s up.

3) I know other writers and artists go through this. Sometimes it feels like our friends and family don’t take us seriously. We don’t have the 12 hour a day job that eats our soul; we have the sometimes 2 hour and sometimes 48 hour job that feeds our soul. But, because we work at home in our flip flops they don’t really think we’re working. Other people in our field don’t take us seriously.We aren’t getting handed awards or big contracts, so we don’t feel validated for all the hours of work we put in looking for work, doing the work, creating the work, marketing the work and advertising the work. Well, no one else BUT us really knows what we’re up to. We have to learn to pat ourselves on the back and keep going. We can’t let the negative tapes in our head get to us. Nor do we have any time to spare worrying about ego strokes. Ask yourself why are you doing what you are doing. If it’s for money or ego, you’re in the wrong business. Not that there’s anything wrong with feeling good about getting a byline, or getting paid well for what we do, or seeing our name on the cover of a magazine or book, but that’s not why we’re doing what we’re doing.

So, those are my late night thoughts.

Been busy and I have lots of news, so if you’re interested, then read on. Not sure when I’ll have time to do this again any time soon. And if you’re a spam-bot just move along please, I’m tired of relegating your comments on (insert drug/sex/business here) to Spam-Bot Hell.

1) My poem, “In Passing,” is up on Daily Love. You can find it here. There will be another one in August called, “That Night…”. I’ll give you a heads up when the link is available for that one.

2) Just signed a contract with Drollerie Press for another novella. Can’t say anything else about it right now, but I’ll let you know more when I know more.

3) Tyrannosaurus Press just came out with their third quarterly issue of The Illuminata, their free newsletter. In this issue there are a couple of short stories, some reviews and a few articles on things of a speculative fiction nature (including at least one of each written by me). You can download it in either ePub or PDF format.

4) I had a poem accepted by Aoife’s Kiss, and rumor has it it will be in the September 2010 issue. I’ll let you know when it’s out and if I’ll be having a blog contest for it.

5) Had my first InfiniChi Medical Qigong appointment on Friday and I highly recommend trying it out if you can find a practitioner near you. They use a combination of Reiki, massage, acupressure and other energy-type work. I was so present afterward that I think my business meeting went much better than it would have otherwise. I was much more helpful to my client and will probably give her a better product because I was more present. I’m moving slower today, but again, I’m also more present, and hopefully more productive.

6) This next week commences the Great Bathroom Make Over – basically gutting it and making it over almost brand new. What this means is that I have been moving everything out of the bathroom and have made up an overnight bag/kit to use in a functional bathroom elsewhere in the building for the next week. Monday morning will be the last time I really use the bathroom before it’s gutted. It means I will lose the white tile with black trim wainscoting I love so much around the room. It’s fairly old – vintage – which is why I like it so much, but it needs to be replaced (sigh).

It took much convincing on the part of the person doing the work as I kept wondering why he couldn’t just patch up the ugly and leave the rest, but when you compare the new tile to the 30 some year old tile, there’s just no way it would look good together. And redoing the entire thing exactly as it is now, but using 21st century materials, would be prohibitively expensive. It’s sad and I hate change, but he explained to me this also means I will probably gain room because the wainscoting is like an inch thick all around and that will disappear to be dry walled and the tile around the tub to go up higher and around the window. Everything repainted. And they’re going to try to stay with the black and white tile I like. It also means the ugly patch work tile around tub faucet will be replaced. And lots of other stuff either cleaned up or replaced. But, I’ll also lose things like the tile towel holders and tile toilet paper holders. But, it’s basically a brand new bathroom, too. And other than having to use another bathroom occasionally over the next week, free and easy to me.

I love that it’s happening, but I’m just sad to see the old vintage stuff go. Some people like living in newness. I’m the person who doesn’t see the cracks in the paint as much because I’m charmed by the oldness. But again – it’s all good and being done by someone I trust (Pye doesn’t hate him — well not as much as he hates other people, anyway).

7) Because of the work on the bathroom I might not be hanging out on my usual cyber haunts as much. My home office is kinda near construction central so I’ll probably be using my netbook elsewhere or working on other things in other places. We’ll see how it goes. It will be good. But if you know me, you know how much I can grouse about change and things being “different”. I like my routine. But my brain will enjoy the change, I’m sure.

When it’s all done, however, I will make sure to post before and after pictures so you can say “oooh” and “ah” along with me.

Got two poetry acceptances recently. One will be appearing online at DailyLove.net later on this month and another one will be appearing online at Eternal Haunted Summer probably around September. It’s the little things that keep you going!

When I have URLs to link to and know more, I’ll pass it on.

If you want a little 10 minute break from your weekend, here’s the first part of my short story, The Spider and the Crow, which was published in the July 2009 issue of Beyond Centauri through SamsDotPublishing.

Hope you enjoy it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wr7rbTOgDI8