Tales End

Tales in the Mail is done. 

7 stories total:  2 science fiction stories; 2 fantasy stories; 3 essay or other stories.

Markets:  1 to Asimov's; 1 to Analog; 1 to Whidbey; 1 to F&SF; 1 to The Sun; and 2 to other markets.

One of Nina's stories goes into the post. Various electronic submissions and brings the story count to six.

Story Four

Nina just showed up with her LaserJet.

Let The Mailing Begin

Three manuscripts in the mail!

Loud Idiots With Cars

I don't know what was going on last night. Starting at midnight loud people parked in front of our house. I think it must have been the party shuttle because they left and came back at least once. Then someone in a monster truck pulled up around 2:30. Thinking that I could get some sleep after 3 AM, I awoke at 6 AM to a brown minivan blaring a news show.

Sheesh. If you'r going to be that loud I want to here a shriek of, "I am so drunk!"

Today is Tales in the Mail -- so I need to de-clutter the house.

Printing Day

Spent most of the day printing stories to send to postal-only markets.

And folding laundry.

And washing dishes.

Laundry Day

This morning is especially domestic. I found my winter scarf, so of course I had to take a picture of it.

I found a recording of Clara Rockmore playing "The Swan" by Saint Saens, on the theremin. Watching her hands as she plays (wearing a kind of purple turban, too) is wonderful, and she makes the theremin sound like an analog cello. As she played, I realized I'd found a new goddess, and I lamented that, as far as i knew, she had not done any collaborations with Laurie Anderson.

Writing Progress

Managed to pound out a 1100 word essay.  

Looked harder at the markets today to prep for Tales in the Mail on Saturday.   Tales in the Mail is when a bunch of Wordos gather for the sole purpose of mailing out manuscripts.  Four of the top markets are currently closed for submission; luckily the mainstays are still accepting  -- but they require paper submissions (so tomorrow is a printing day).   Other markets that accept electronic submission have allowed me to boot my number of manuscripts in the mail to barely acceptable -- I need to keep those numbers up.

The writing sabbatical is almost over.  It's been a real learning experience.  Although I know that I'll be focusing my effort in other places, I'm hoping that I can keep my writing road map clear in my head so that I use time effectively when I have it.  

Had fun this evening; I won some tickets for a Beethoven piano recital at Baell Hall on the U of O campus.  It was really good -- the piano sounded almost like a cross between a harpsichord and tubular bells in some places.  My Dad came down and he enjoyed the concert as well.  

Thursday

Day seven: the last of the Pepsi cans has run dry.  I have no porters to send for more supplies.

It's raining... no, wait, the sun is out.  Nope.  It's raining.

Managed a lot of dialog on the serious Mars story; edited the not-serious Mars story.

Muriel continues to be an irritant.

Productive So Far

The writing is going well today.

Must Keep Writing...

Sent out a story a little early today.  Also printed out a short story for Wordos instant-critique.    The 500 words that popped out earlier today is interesting, but it's got a grim feeling to it.  

After Wordos there was a good discussion about meaning of what writers write.  "The meaning" is a poetic term, somewhere between "heart" in movies and "moral" in fables, which I think not only applies to the written words we produce, but also what the act of writing means to our lives as writers.  I guess it's time to look up an old essay by John Chiardi, "How Does a Poem Mean?"  

There was also some discussion about Golden Ages and their helpful and baneful aspects.  One helpful thing that I got from the discussion is the concept that while a Golden Age can straightjacket people into restrictive roles, the story of a Golden Age can be a statement of a community's values.   (This is what I get for reading Ronald Hutton, William Dever, and Cynthia Eller.)

Afterward, watched a video about robot-controlled cars racing through the desert; I'm hopeful that some ideas for the Mars story I'm trying to write will come through.   There were some good character ideas from all the robot engineers as well.  

Must Sleep.

Tea!

I've written about 500 words this morning. Kind of scattered right now -- I'm letting what wants to come out out.. but it's not the serious Mars story (well, at least not too much).

Muriel continues to express her little kitty needs loudly and often.

And thank goodness, the tea's come!

Today's Summary

Reviewed: 

• Coils of Love (9900 words -- fantasy)
  
• Corporate Samurai (6600 words -- fantasy)
  
• Are We There Yet (900 words -- slipstream)
  
• A Martian Tall Tale (800 words -- humor fantasy)
  
• Anti-Logos (1900 words -- personal essay)
  

Samurai was e-mailed out to a market.  Coils' size may make it a difficult sell; market research tonight!  Are We There Yet I'm going to send out to a market that opens Wednesday.  The tall tale goes to Wordos for critique -- I think it's funny, but we'll see how badly it gets teared apart by the critique.  

---

My tea appears to be stranded in Hodgkins, IL; it's been there since the 25th, having started its journey from Stratford, CT on the 23rd.  

Two Manuscripts!

Well, OK... more like one and a half (I have to make the changes to one electronic version).

Murie continues to be an irritant.

Monday Writing

Manuscripts everywhere!

At least they're mostly filed now. It amazing what a bad filing system can do, but now at least everything is mostly consolidadetd -- I need to decide what to do with old critiques... they're sort of interesting but it's a little early to start a museum to critiquing.

I've run out of milk and O.J. -- so it's off to the store before writing.

I've Read About These Somewhere...

Our farmer delivered produced today. I should have reminded her that I'm sensitive to peppers and can't eat them. I managed to give a few away so they won't be wasted.

But there's still one problem; or rather two.

I recognize the eggplants, the tomatoes, the cabbages and broccoli.  But I don't know what one green leafy vegetable is -- I know it's not spinach, and I suspect it might be related to kale.

And I have no idea what the long white thing is. Last time I saw something like this I called it a white carrot (it was a turnip) and Mark's never let me forget it. So, it wants to be purple, like an eggplant, except that it's mostly white; and it's long, like a cucumber -- I think I'll call it an "albino eggumber."

If you can identify either of these mystery vegetables, let me know (and send a recipe).

Writing and Floss

Ah morning. I guess that I'm not much of a morning person. If I can set things up the previous day then I can glide through routines until I'm fully awake.

Last night I printed out my story marketing data so I have concrete goals for the next few days. Today is a backlog day -- there are several manuscripts that need minor tweaking so I can send them out.

Interesting dreams last night. I think my oral hygenist symbolized my anxiety about not "writing enough." OK, and I need to floss more.  Then there was the "returning to school" motif; when I tried to walk passed the art building my legs stopped working -- it was like walking through molasses.

I must not have been awake.

The serious manuscript became humorous -- as Mark often says, "I'm the funniest person I know."