Baked goods, bads, and morally ambiguouses.

- The Toon game went very well. In fact, it went better than it had any right to, given that I haven't run a game in, oh, more than five years at least. I was very happy with the legion of polar bears deciding one character was their deity and the gingerbread enlargement ray (which made characters large and gingerbread), among many other wonderful moments.

- Arisia in general was excellent (yes, this is way too late for a con round-up, but I'm slow like that). I got to see a lot of people, meet several new and interesting people (and not in the bad sense of "interesting"), and got plenty of exercise on the stairs.

- Revision continues, and I think it's producing good results. This draft won't be quite ready for reading, but it'll be close enough that a cleanup revision should be all that's needed. After that . . . well. We'll have to see.

- Why is it that I always come up with the cool short story ideas when I'm revising some big project and thus have no time to work on them? Not that that's stopping me.

- Working out twice a week means that that's two evenings when I have legs like noodles and all the energy of bread pudding. Still, it doesn't take much physical energy to sit in front of the computer. Mental discipline is another matter.

In response to the Revise My Novel! poll, I have decided to scrap this novel.* Instead, I will be writing a novel in which a much-slapped hero and heroine have lots of hot sex while saving the universe from the Zombie Strom Thurmond Horde and blowing stuff up. The League Of Insufficiently-Clothed Gentlemen will also make an appearance.

I've been having printer trouble, which I suppose is inevitable with my elderly iMac and almost-as-elderly inkjet. Something's wonky with its paper intake, so I have to steady the paper with both hands or risk repeated jams. Because of how my workspace is set up, this means that I have to stand with my arms around the printer.

In other words, my printer is so insecure it needs a hug to function.

( I also went wandering on the Internet... )

Also, in the continuing annals of Bad Ideas In Musical Arrangement, it should be noted that "I've Been Working on the Railroad" is a poor song choice for a holiday carillon, even when played slowly and in a dirge-like minor key. So is "The Sound of Silence," for that matter.



* Kidding! KIDDING!

- "The Welsh Squadron" will be coming out in early July, rather than mid-April. Sorry for the delay, but this way it might be coming out near my birthday. Keen!

- "Keep Coming Back for More," however, has been postponed again, this time until late summer/early fall. I'm slightly more irritated about this, partly because I'd hoped to send the story to Escape Pod after it was in print (audio version! print version! everybody happy!). Mainly, though, I'm irritated because they haven't yet paid me.

- Haven't sold anything yet this year. Repeat, stealthmuffin: this does not mean my career is over, this does not mean my career is over. Gad, the Nervous Writer self can get annoying at times.

- Have, however, figured out how to fix "Funeral Games," "Pre-Apocalypse Sale on Cheese," and "The Best Days of Our Lives." I'll be working on them this week, after I finish chapter 6 of New Novel First Crappy Draft. I want to get more stories out there. Since "Loss of Memory" is being critted this afternoon, I might even try to get that one out soon as well, depending on what kind of crits I get.

- At least two of my other stories have been passed on to the final editor. This is very cool, but one of them said I'd probably hear around the beginning of March. I think I'll wait till the beginning of April to query.

- I'm a little irked that my information never appeared on the Campbell Award-eligible writers site, even though I sent it well ahead of time. Not that I'd have a chance at winning it, given the competition, but it would have been nice to be up there. (It's possible I'd misread it and I'm not really eligible, though since my first pro sale came out in April 2005, I think I'm eligible.)

In summary: publications delayed, responses in limbo, working on new stuff, and chalking up new marks on my Neurotic Writer Habit tally. Next: talking to furniture.

It's a weird side effect of LiveJournal that if I don't post in a while, I start to feel guilty. It's like I'm enjoying its benefits by reading all of my friends' posts, but not reciprocating in kind.

Then again, it may just be that I've found a new thing to feel guilty about. Go me! Sort of.

After two weeks of weather that seemed determined to send us all to Nopantsistan, it's gotten a little less oppressive. It's still really hot, but the air no longer feels like soup.

I'm starting to twitch over a few stories that have been out for a while, one of which I know will be read soon. (It's for an anthology, and the reading period is at the beginning of August.) The story's perfect for the anthology, so I'm optimistic, but that just makes it more difficult if it does end up getting rejected. Still, I think I can send it out again. I may have other writing-related news soon, but I'm holding off on an announcement until I hear more details.

The revision goes. I don't know if it goes well; for one thing, I've used the heat as an excuse to slack a bit this last week. For another, I'm well into the stage wherein I can't tell if it works just yet. I just have to get the new draft cobbled together. At the moment, I feel like I'm piling on the exposition, but when I read back through the recent stuff, it's not so heavy. Maybe I just need to get to the ass-kicking sooner.

In other news, I've discovered that cute little pink office supply sets can be fun. Cute little pink staple removers, however, are good for only one thing: going "chompa chompa chompa" and menacing one's Frankenbeanies.