Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Raise the roof!

Got a request for a partial tonight. Score another for the writer!

Monday, November 26, 2007

What the ...

How the hell did it get to be almost December already? I don't get it.

Sunday, November 25, 2007

funk

Today I feel blah. I wrote 600 words on the WIP and tried to start the anthology story, but I'm just not feelin' it. I had intended to put up the Christmas tree tonight, but I'm not feeling that, either. Christmas cards? Meh. Laundry? Ditto.

Saturday, November 24, 2007

Another rejection ...

But the zoduko website is down and so I can't update the meter. Ah, well. I'm not that down about it, though; the editor said the tale was well-written and that I should consider her again. You can bet I will. However, I fear this editor has seen most of my shorts I have out in circulation. Humph.

It just occured to me I should write a few shorts set in my Stormy Weather world. For one thing, it might be fun to explore different aspects of the world; for another, it'd be cool to have a few stories in circulation if the book actually ever sees the light of day. A few of the stories that are circulating now are set in my Gemstone Prophecy world, and they were a lot of fun to write.

So, a list of current and future projects:
Through the Portal
Anthology short story
One or two shorts set in SW world


I've got a lot to keep me busy. Sheesh. It would be so great to do this full-time. Sure, I'd probably be broke, but the more you write the more ideas you get, so I'd always be busy.

Friday, November 23, 2007

17.5%

7,000 words.

That meter won't be moving tomorrow. Going back home to see dad and then eat a belated Thanksgiving with mom and her husband. I'm bringing the pumpkin bars. I feel fat already.

Thursday, November 22, 2007

Happy Thanksgiving, peeps

A time for reflection before I head off to the gym. I'm thankful for:
My husband, who keeps me sane.
My job, because I'm never bored and the people are cool.
My middle-class lifestyle. I grew up poor, so the idea that I live in a nice house in a nice neighborhood and can buy whatever we need without thinking about it too hard is absolutely wonderful. Note I didn't say "want." It's nice to want things.
My writing. Every day I learn something new; every story I produce is better than that last.
The blogging community. You guys keep my chin up.

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

It must be the glue

What is it about sealing the envelope on an agent submission that makes the contents instantly suck?

Ah, hell. Word on the street is this agent responds quickly to partials. I'll know soon enough.

Nine hundred words today on Through the Portal. I think they all sucked, too.

Monday, November 19, 2007

This is Kelly's brain on adrenaline.

Tonight, I got an invitation for an anthology and a request for a partial for Stormy Weather. I am so frickin' excited I can barely think. Of course, the agent could reject me and the story might not ultimately be accepted, but tonight I'm on cloudy nine. Past that. Cloud fifty-three.

Sunday, November 18, 2007

Oh, yeah, baby

Nine hundred words today, as well as a critique and laundry and lounge time. I still have a few hours left to play Guitar Hero III and watch a movie! Woot. This story is just frickin' flowing from my fingertips--for now at least--and I'm riding the wave while it lasts.

Friday, November 16, 2007

Sign me up!

$4140.00The Cadaver Calculator - Find out how much your body is worth.

Talk Dirty to me ...

Or not. Maybe it's best to keep quiet sometimes.

Courtesy of my husband Ken. He's got a blog now over at krswails.livejournal.com. Go on over and give him trouble.

Leaps and bounds

1700 words today. Better yet, I feel pretty good about them. I wrote a little bit of sibling rivalry and angst followed by a torrid hook-up session in a locker room. Next up: death and mayham. Go me!


So I've been in a funk lately about all my rejections. One of the writers I met at WFC offered to take a look at Stormy Weather, so I sent it off. I expected her to take a week or so with the critique, but she got back to me within 24 hours. She loved it, had lots of good things to say about it, and said the first chapter needed work. I agreed with that; it's just I've re-written the first chapter three zillion times (at least, it feels that way; it's actually more like four or five times) and I can't figure out why I can't get it right. Anyhow, I believe her exact words were "You're no amateur" and so my ego got a much needed boost.

bloggin' from panera

So I'm writing from a bakery/coffeeshop this morning. I'm surrounded by hazelnut coffee, retirees, and free wi-fi. We'll see how many words I produce before I pick Ken up for lunch.

Ah, yes, lunch. Today we're car-shopping for Ken during his lunch hour. His Contour is close to biting the dust, so we're going to give a few cars a spin and see what he likes. We're checking out Saturn and possibly Nissan or Honda. Probably more shopping will ensue over the weekend. I'm all about getting a hybrid but Ken's wavering on a hybrid, a two-seater, or a truck. We really don't need another sedan so really, he can get whatever the heck he wants. He mentioned a Mustang but I think he's too young for his mid-life crisis car.

ETA: Yeah, baby, just wrote 900 words. Maybe I should come back to Panera after lunch ...

Thursday, November 15, 2007

Monday, November 12, 2007

Support the WGA

A great post on the Hollywood writer's strike.

*sigh*

Just received a rejection e-mail from the agent that had requested the partial.

It's pissing rain outside.

I want to stay home, bake a cake, snuggle under the covers, and watch television all night. But, no. Tonight I will go to the gym. And then I'll shower, bake a cake, sunggle under the covers, and watch television all night. How I Met Your Mother, Chuck, and Heroes, here I come.

I'm up to 2000 words on TtP. I'm nearly done with the first chapter. It's actually coming along rather nicely.

Sunday, November 11, 2007

Wiscon 2008

So, I went to make my reservations for WisCon in Madison, Wisconson, tonight, and the conference hotel is already full! So I'm making an internet shout-out: Anyone have an extra room? It's probably to soon to know for sure ... but if someone out there can help me out, that'd be great.

Friday, November 09, 2007

Sometimes efficiency sucks

You know what the worst thing about sending out a bajillion agent queries at once? You get four rejections in one day.

Talk about a funk. Buying new nail polish is not going to cut it tonight.

I could talk about how the current WIP is up to 1500 words (after two writing sessions!) but not even that is enought to cheer me up.

Wednesday, November 07, 2007

Return of the SASE

Got a form rejection from an agent a few days ago. No worries.

Tonight I begin the Fabulous New Book. Starting is the scariest part.

Monday, November 05, 2007

Reporting live from her living room ...

Hey, everyone! Back in the comfy environs of Illinois. Now, without further ado ... the ubiquitous Con Report.



Wednesday

Ken and I left town around 11:00. We were in no hurry since we weren't driving to Saratoga but to Niagara Falls, Ontario the first night. We rented a car and a GPS system to make the trip easier. Our GPS's voice was male with an Australian accent, so we named him Rusty after Russell Crowe. (Aside for Bridget: Rusty completely kicks Betty's ass even though he insisted on driving through Indy instead of around.) The drive was uneventful except for one place about 20 miles from our house. It's a strange Bermuda-triangle type area that inexplicably has fatal accidents once every two weeks or so. Some dumb-fuck 80 year-old decided it'd be a good time to drive a camper and nearly drove us off the interstate. So of course I'm jumpy the entire rest of the day (Oh!! Watch that merger! He might come within 20 yards of us!) which made Ken happy, let me tell ya. We arrived in Canada around 10:30 p.m. The border guard was bored and gave me and Ken grief about not having passports or birth certificates (you don't need those to cross the border by car until February 1, 2008, by the way). I know it's their job to ask questions and be suspicious (You're from Illinois and you're going to New York. Why are you coming into Canada? Just sightseeing? Really?) but it still made me feel like a criminal. He let us go after harassing us for a bit and we made it to the hotel by the falls without incident. Awesome, awesome hotel. If you go to the falls, stay at the Embassy Suites. We had two nice-sized rooms, a bad-ass jacuzzi, two sinks, and a separate room for the toilet and shower. We made it in time to secure our complimentary bar drinks; Ken had a Molson and I had a mediocre Riesling. Then, sleep.



Thursday

After we woke up, got cleaned up, and secured some breakfast, Ken and I explored Niagara Falls. It was chilly but sunny, and we got some great pictures. The upshot was that there were no crowds, so we were able to stand right by the fence and linger without guilt. The area seems like it's a good tourist destination smack in the middle of the boonies; we discussed vacationing there with another couple for a few days. I wouldn't want to spend a whole week or anything, but a long weekend would provide ample opportunity to shop and explore the whole area and gamble at the casino without feeling bored. We left Canada at around noon, and after a mild interrogation at the border were I had a moment's panic because I almost forgot where I was born, we were on our way.



The drive to Saratoga was enlightening for two reasons: New York State's completely rational approach to tolls and rest stops. On the Google directions I noted we had toll roads and so I did what any Illinoisan would do: I grabbed a metric ton of change and put it in the center console. You see, in Chicago, if you don't have an E-Z pass, you'll pay 75 cents, drive a few miles, pay 40 cents, drive a few more, pay 65 cents, etc. Not so in New York. You go through the toll at the beginning of the interstate. They give you a card with the pay rate for every exit. When you get off the interstate, you pay the rate based on when you got on the interstate. It's a very logical and sane system that Chicago could employ. Which brings us to the rest stops: they're huge and beautiful! Each one is a big building with two to four fast-food restaurants, huge bathrooms, and a gift shop. There's also a gas station at each one. Quite lovely.



Once we arrived in Saratoga, we checked into the second hotel of the trip and then drove to the convention center. We immediately ran into fellow writer-peeps and swept them away for dinner at an Italian Bistro across the street. After dinner we hit the Zombies Love Brains party where we ran into to more people we knew. We secured a prime location (next to the cooler of free beer and the air conditioner) and sat and laughed and met new people. One such person was Patricia Bray. She was one of the hostesses and had secured a gross of the coolest metal lizard-shaped bottle openers. Oh, yeah, don't worry; one of those babies came home with me. Ken and I left the parties well before they shut them down and headed to bed.



Friday

First thing we checked out of the second hotel and into the third hotel of the trip. This was the conference hotel, so it was much more convenient and all that. We inadvertently stood up a group of people for breakfast; the clock in the second hotel had apparently already been set for Standard Time, and so while we though we'd arrived ridiculously early, we were 20 minutes late. It turned out okay, though, because we ate a local diner, hung out with the Fangs Fur Fey people in the bar, attended a reading, and perused the art room. We saw this awesome print from Todd Lockhart called War of Angels. I would not be surprised if a copy showed up on one of our walls within the next few months. Just gorgeous. Friday night we ate dinner at a pizza place that advertised Chicago-style pizza. I've had lots of Chicago-style pizza in my time, my friends, and let me tell you that Marino's in Saratoga Springs isn't it. Good pizza, don't get me wrong, but Chicago-style it ain't. The crust was too thin by half. After dinner we hit autograph room. I got a few books signed, laughed with some friends, and stalked Scott Lynch, so it was all good. Afterwards we hit the parties. We had a wickedly strong blue drink and more free beer. Let me just tell you that's it's way too easy to drink too much at WFC. I didn't get drunk and do anything stupid, but I saw a few people get awfully close to that line.



Saturday
The atmosphere was way subdued Saturday morning. You could tell that two days of partying had taken its toll on the attendees. Ken and I went to breakfast with the people we had stood up on Friday. We met a few new cool people, ate gravy, and occupied a table for a few hours. We hung out in the lobby, met more people, hit the DAW party, ate dinner at a cool fried-chicken place, and then hit yet more parties. We got invited to a jazz club, and I really wanted to go, but by this point Ken and I were just ... done. Past done, even. Burnt. We headed for bed and took advantage of the extra hour of sleep.

Sunday
Took all morning to say the long train of goodbyes. Bought yet another book ('cause the duffel bag full of freebies wasn't enough, you know) and procured a few more signatures. I bonded with someone over Paula Danziger's work. We left Saratoga around 11:30 and got home around 2:30 in the morning. Remember we slipped an hour back when we crossed over into Illinois and so the trip was around 14 hours or so. Long trip, but we took several breaks and consumed approximately 5 bajillion milligrams of caffeine. Oh, a warning: if you order iced coffee through the drive-through at midnight, they don't screw around. We made it home in one piece and slept it off.

And ... that's it. I leave you with a few choice quotes from the weekend:

"I'm ... intoxicated."
"Do you need to use my lizard?"
"You two should kiss."
"My breath could bleach your hair."

Friday, November 02, 2007

bloggin' from Saratoga

A full con report will follow, I promise. I'm just too pooped now. However, I leave you with this nugget: I totally went all fangirl on Scott Lynch tonight. Yeah, that's right, that Scott Lynch. He was only a little scared, I think.