Month: April 2008

Awake

You’d think after a day of travel, I’d be snoozing, but I’m really quite awake in my comfy room at the Hampton Inn. I present tomorrow at 2ish, just about the time I’d crash. Well, adrenaline’s got me this far…

Mind is full of all the images of clothes I’ve seen while shopping for my Wiscon outfit. I enjoy being a girl! As someone who has a powerful interest in what clothes say about you, I’m interested in my clothes saying the right thing (the curse of the author/costumer?) and it’s becoming a bit of a head spin. Combined with the body I have to dress now, and I’m looking for ways to flatter without looking like I’m trying to be someone half my age. This could be more of a difficulty than I thought.

Speaking of Wiscon, I don’t have any extra panels after the first programming sweep, and that turns out to be okay. I have the reading, which is a showcase of 5 women’s talents, including an artist and a soundtrack. AND I have my usual academic paper Azazello’s Oil, looking for different kinds of feminism in the witch motifs in Bulgakov’s Master and Margarita. I’m good. If Wiscon doesn’t need me on panels, actually I’m happy.

More time to be at the Broad Universe table, hanging out with Phoebe Wray; more time to hang with my friends.

So, now, I’m going to do some virtual research on current fashion/dressing appropriate to my age/body shape, and so on, to see what I can find out. Until I get sleepy.

I think tomorrow may be about A LOT of coffee of iffy convention quality.

Catherine

Now Boarding…

I’m writing from the airport terminal of the Eastern Iowa airport on my way to Chicago on my way to Cleveland. Even though I’m not ready for Demicon yet (too much traveling and traveling preparation made for a night of Dead Like Me gluttony), on the road all I can do is MAYBE shop for my reading outfit and rewrite my scene for reading at Wiscon.

So, woohoo and color me fictional. 🙂 I’ll be trying to get that scene shored up to about twelve minutes, and then I’ll be happy to share it with you.

Meanwhile, rejection from Joy Harris at Joy Harris. I feel like a baseball card collector. Just this week I received a couple after two months, and that’s about as long as you should wait before you close them out as unknown, according to the literature, so I feel like I’m getting a complete set of cards. 🙂

Ooookay, so I’d best shut down. We board in 8 minutes. Catch you all, one hour ahead, in Cleveland. Or not. It’ll be an academic schmoozing, latte tippling whirlwind.

Have a great weekend.

Catherine

The Business of Submitting

Well, I did get my submissions around for the week. They go out in the post tomorrow.

This week, all snail mail.

Marcia Amsterdam of Marcia Amsterdam
Kelly Sonnack of Sandra Dijkstra
Charlotte Sheedy of Sterling Lord Literistic
Steve Mancino of JABberwocky (agent to the famous Jim Hines! 😉
Donald Maass of Donald Maass

And two rejections in the mail–twin Gingers!

Ginger Knowles of Curtis Brown (who penciled in I am sorry!)
Ginger Clark of Curtis Brown (who sent a form letter)

Well, ’tis better to suffer the slings and arrows of rejection, than to never get your work out there at all. I’m lovin’ it!

Tomorrow: copy fest. Then, they’re off.

Catherine

Wiscon on the Horizon

Alyssa Eisner Henkin of Trident rejects.

***

FINISHED with the comparative English paper. What’s next for writing? Wiscon materials. I have some packing to do for my business trip and another costuming event, and then I’m all about Wiscon.

So, here’s information about the reading members of the old writing group will be doing, where and when. I’ll be reading an excerpt from a series called Gossamer and Viridian, which I’m not as hot to write as I was, because everyone and your aunt Hattie are writing and publishing fae books, and I need a spin.

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Still, it’s a nice scene, so I think you’ll enjoy it. As soon as I fix it up, I’ll post it here for your reading pleasure, a virtual read, if you like.

Also, I’ll be on a few panels at the convention, depending on what the con accepts me for, AND I’ll be writing a literary paper on Feminism in Master and Margarita.

***

Plugging Julie Rose’s interview of Heather Domin on Writers and their Soundtracks.

***

Ditched Ahab’s Wife. I wanted to like it, but when she decides to dress as a boy and go to see, I drowned in yet another cliche. I have a fantasy about historical fiction that follows, I don’t know, history. I have another fantasy that if you write fantasy, maybe you should call it fantasy.

You might like the book. Lots of people did. It sold a lot of copies. I’m just persnickety and left-sided.

Oh! teaching in 20!

Catherine

A Nibble; Into the Revision Process

A new agent requested a partial and outline of Substance. So, that’s off as of this morning. I hope to get to more submissions out this week. We’ll see. Muchos to do in the next 3 days.

***

The rough draft of my conference paper for Saturday is complete. I must pepper liberally with examples, draw up a handout, and write a small training memo. I should be done in time to leave for (exotic) Cleveland on Thursday.

Perfunctorily and busily yours,
Catherine

The Impatient Writer

Oh, come on! I’ve sent you lots of queries. The least you can do is send me rejections! I’m mad for your rejections! It makes me feel like this whole process is going forward!

Of course, agents, if any of you want to send me a request for a partial or a full reading, or would like to offer representation, well that’s forward movement too. 😉

***

Um…that said, I’m not sure if I’ll have time to do submissions next week. I have a 3 day work week and a paper deadline looming large. I will try. Much will depend on this weekend’s progress.

With last night’s progress, however, things look rosier.

Zokutou word meterZokutou word meter
5,486 / 7,500
(73.1%)

I’ve lowered the word count, now that I have a fairly good idea how long this sucker’s going to be. Of course, this weekend will be organizing, and converting real names to pseudonyms, which is something we do in qualitative research. Then, I get to sprinkle liberally with case study examples.

Right now I should write some grammar tests, so I bid you farewell for the moment. Have a great weekend.

Catherine

Revision; Rejection

I received a rejection from Barbara Bova, which was expected. The sort of things she usually represents aren’t the sort of book I sent, but I thought I should knock on that door.

And I revised the World Englishes and English as Lingua Franca parts of my paper last night…with a migraine! No doubt there will be much revision tonight! My word count went backwards, as expected during the tightening of the notes. I expect to write great guns tonight, being pain free and all.

This weekend we’ll be going back to Minneapolis for a gaming weekend, and I’ll be filling in all the spare spaces with writing. After all, the presentation of the paper is next Saturday.

I am so looking forward to getting to that Wiscon scene. I feel like I’m wilting when I’m not writing fiction. Stinky, decaying rose petals. That’s me.

Catherine

Blogging, Topics, and You

I read many writers’ blogs every day. I enjoy them. They help me focus on all sorts of aspects of writing. Some answer questions. Some are more personal about the life of the author.

Here at Writer Tamago, we keep it mostly about the writing. I have a whole ‘nother journal that talks about other aspects of my life. And some things I’m just not going to talk to you about. Sorry, but that’s how it is. I don’t need to lay my entire life bare to you. I am, after all, an internet construct partly of your own making.

However, other writers are more personal, and now I’m curious. What do you enjoy reading in the entries of writers? Do you prefer all writing content? Do you prefer those glimpses into the personal? What do you like to do in your own journaling/blogging?

Because you’re out there, writing, I think you have something to say about this one, and I hope to hear from you.

Catherine