Trying to keep up with this posting thing.

Doing a lot of IROSF typesetting today, trying to get everything ready for the new issue. Then I'll be getting things ready for my interview tomorrow (bus schedule and the like) and continuing to get used to the new place and to being downtown in general.

I've been cooking lately, which is unusual for me. So far it's mostly cooking stuff in bulk and then freezing it individually, but I actually did actual cooking at least twice this week. That's pretty much a big win for me.

Later, I'm hoping to get some time in on a story that I wrote for my study abroad class while I was in Ireland. It was due at the end of August, but with the overtime for the game, the separation, the moving, and a mountain of other random shit, I'm pretty sure I'm pressing the limits here, even for my extension. Good thing I was auditing the class and don't get a real grade for it. Still, I really respect my professor and would like his input on what has become a way more complicated story than it really needed to be. I'm happy with how it's shaping up, though.

Geb and I went to see The Lion King at the Paramount last night with my cousin and some of her Americorps people (because group discounts rock). It was pretty amazing and I was intrigued by how they did the costuming. Most of it actually stuck a little too close to the movie for me (the voices were almost identical as were most of the inflections), but I guess they expected people to want that.

It had a fantastic little meta moment, though. When Simba is about to sing "Can't Wait to be King," the curtain falls briefly and Zazu gets stuck on the house side of it by himself. He looks up at it and says, "This wasn't in the cartoon..."

At the end of the song, he gets stuck on house side again, examines the drapery and says, "It looks like a shower curtain from Target..." I have to say, it was my favorite part.


Today I helped Geb organize resumes, headshots, and cover letters to send out to agents and casting directors so that he can try to get some commercial work between shows. Then I worked on typing up a couple of my new stories, because I still insist on writing most of them longhand. No one's sure why.

Origins: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4

Today's Awesome: One of the stories that I submitted yesterday was returned. Yes, this is what made me happy. Few things please me more than a quick submission turnaround. Rejections don't actually affect me much (and to be frank, I don't understand writers that lament over one for days at a time). It has since been sent back out into the world.

I spent a lot of today working on the ending of the story that I tore apart yesterday. Somehow, I have added nearly 2k words to the thing. I don't really like where it started going toward the very end, possibly because I tried to type it straight into the computer and many things that I write that way end up awkward, especially if that first part was done longhand (I know, my brain works strangely). I've printed it out and I'll try to work out the ending longhand tonight or tomorrow.

Origins: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3

What made me happy today was that I spent pretty much all day ripping one of my stories apart. While this may not sound awesome, it means (in theory) that I have improved it exponentially. It is a slight pain in the ass because the entire ending essentially got shaved off and I've yet to put anything in its place yet, but still, it's definitely improved and that pleases me quite a lot.

Also, I managed to get three other stories sent out into the void. Fewer than I was hoping, but better than the last three months combined, so I'm marking it as a win.

Origin is here.

Today's awesome revolved around my not having class. Besides not going (and not spending almost three hours on the bus), since my assignments for the week are already done, I spent today (and will continue to spend the evening) polishing a handful of stories, which should be ready to go back out into the world pretty soon. I've been trying to find time to do this for nearly three weeks now, so this is especially fantastic.


Also, if you're going to be in the Seattle area any weekend between January 23rd and February 8th, you should head to Stone Soup Theater and see The Misanthrope.

It's a different translation than you might be used to with Moliere... It's actually adapted to fit Seattle's 90's grunge scene and some of the dialogue is...different. It should really be a good show, though. I've seen a couple of the scenes in rehearsal and I'm looking forward to opening night.

I'm almost convinced that Blunt just keeps articles hidden from me, and then yanks them out of his back pocket when it looks like an issue is going to be thinner than expected.

Also, the IROSF Café Press store has a new item. Is it silly that I want one?


On another note, academia is killing my brain. One of my professors somehow talked me into submitting two of my papers to NCUR (the National Conference of Undergraduate Research) which, if selected, will mean I get an all-expense paid trip the the lovely and exotic... Lacrosse, Wisconsin. Right now, it just means more work.

I have written and discarded at least two essays for this week's nonfiction assignment, and still have to come up with some kind of draft that I don't hate. I haven't written a word of fiction since classes started because of... well... classes. They're more intense this quarter, though--I was able to keep up all last year. This is particularly annoying because there are three stories all based in the same world and just last week I finally realized why they suck and how to remedy aforementioned suckage.

Oh well. Onward.

In other equally irrelevant news, it looks like we've finally got some new titles on the front page of our Recently Received section over at IROSF. That's big fun. I would consider it equally big fun if we could get some of the .pdf versions that we've received up on the site, but you can only expect so much at a time.

Also, I should have made revisions to the essay for my nonfiction class much much earlier in the day. Nothing related to school is fun after midnight, no matter how much you might otherwise enjoy it.

I just finished my first editorial for IROSF. It's... well, it's awkward, not gonna lie. BUT! It is significantly better than my first two attempts, which made it approximately three and five sentences, respectively. Really, it just needs an edit or two to smooth it out.


In other news, I printed out one of my novels yesterday/this morning and am preparing myself for a rousing game of "read and revise this manuscript until my eyes fall out." I'm hoping to be well into the game by the end of the week, having finished the preliminary steps today and tomorrow. We'll see how that works out for me.


Don't forget: new IROSF comes out one week from today!

In my continued effort to make sure that we continue to come out on time, I spent a lot of today editing, typesetting, and proofing articles for July's issue of IROSF. The trouble comes in when there aren't any new submissions yet.

I know, I know—it's only 7 days into the month. Still, I'd like to get to a place where I can plan the issues a month ahead of time. It would make me quite a bit happier. I fear that part of the reason we aren't getting as many submissions in general is because people who would normally submit would like to make sure that their articles appear in a bit more of a timely manner than we have a reputation for. Which brings me back to my original point.

Blasted vicious circles.


In unrelated news, I managed to get through two revisions today (my own short fiction, not to be confused with articles for the site). That pleased me. I need to have another go at them before I send them off into the ether, but I'm feeling good about them. On a similar note, I sat down to revise a third story only to realize that it wasn't a story at all so much as... well, crap. I gave it a proper burial (which reminds me, I should empty the shredder soon).

It always astounds me to find out how many writers actually hate writing.

I guess it's a personal preference—some people like the process of actually better and some prefer the process of rewriting, but it still just confounds me when I hear a writer complain about having to actually write.

Not two hours ago, I was in my Advanced Fiction class (where my professor seems slightly bent on "saving" me from genre writing—or, "the dark side," as I think he sees it), and during the break, he asked those of us in the room if we'd rather create a story or revise a story. See, now... I don't like revising. I'd go so far as to say that I hate it. I like having revised. My professor went into this thing about how he thinks the actual writing process is so much harder than revising, and sometimes that's true, but I don't think that has to take the fun out of it.

His claim is that if you're having too much fun writing your first draft, your story probably isn't any good. You've let yourself get swept away and now your story probably doesn't make any sense or isn't an actual "story." I hear that and all I can think is how that is possibly the most morbid position on writing that I have ever heard. I mean, what's the point of doing something you love if the only time you can do it well is when you aren't having fun and if you are having fun, then you're probably doing it wrong?


Ah well. Take it all in and disregard what you can't use—that's my position on the whole "writing advice" thing.

Story: Last year I wrote a paper for my Anthropology of Religion class. It was about the issue of homosexuality and religion and how we as a culture as finally becoming more accepting that these two communities don't have to be mutually exclusive, etc etc etc. In any case, part of it references hate crime statistics in reference to the Matthew Shepard incident, and how they jumped the year that this incident took place. I presented my theory about this, blah blah blah, etc etc etc.

I had Dr. Bean for a different class, but I was meeting him weekly in his office to discuss my paper for his class and when we finished talking shop, we would discuss various other things because the man is just completely fascinating and a wealth of knowledge. I just love talking to him. Anyway, he had mentioned in class one day that his son was gay, so during one of meetings, I mentioned the Anthropology paper that I was writing. He was interested and said that he'd like to read it, so I printed off a copy and gave it to him.

Fast forward a year: As Dr. Bean is possibly my favorite professor ever, I have been meaning to ask him to coffee for this entire school year, but my schedule has prevented it. A couple weeks ago, I finally saw some time, so invited him out for today. As we talked, he said that he was co-writing a text book called Writing Arguments (it would, naturally, be primarily an upper-level English text), and he was currently working on the chapter regarding causality. He then said that he had recently re-read the paper that I had given him last year and he realized that my theory and argument about the correlation between the hate crime statistics and the Matthew Shepard incident would fit perfectly into this chapter. After I send him the electronic copy, he's going to take out the chunk that he wants me to focus on and then I'll rewrite a short 2-3 page paper to focus on that particular issue. He says they will pay me for my time AND when the book comes out, I will get $100.

On TOP of being published in a textbook.

Not gonna lie... I'm pretty excited.

I have discovered that Weird Tales will be at Norwescon celebrating their 85th anniversary.

You may need to know me to understand how exciting this is.

Weird Tales is like my Holy Grail. All the best authors got started in Weird Tales. When I finally get accepted into Weird Tales, I am going to throw an I-Got-Into-Weird-Tales party. I am so not joking.

They are going to be at Norwescon. Aeon will also be at Norwescon. I may only get to be there for a day or so, but I am going to make it my personal mission to locate some person who is in some way associated with Weird Tales, introduce myself, and get my business card into their hand.

This will possibly be the most exciting thing ever.