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We’re in finals week here at Kirkwood, so technically it’s still spring. I give two finals Tuesday, the 13th, the last day of the spring semester, and then summer term kicks right in on the 19th. Kirkwood has borrowed some of my writing every day time during the job search, so I still get to write pretty much every day until I go on my summer vacation, which begins a little earlier than normal for me this year.

I’m not going anywhere foreign or exotic this summer. I’m not going on a week long writing retreat either. I’m going to Wiscon, like I always do, for it is a dear outing with dear friends. I’m going to Detcon because, in addition to seeing friends, I want to make some writerly connections. I’m going to Convergence, because that’s a Bryon and I thing, plus, you know, we do it every year for many of the same Wiscon reasons.

For me, that’s not much traveling. I’m going to roof seam repair land AND bathroom remodel land. That’ll be fun.

And I’ll spend my summer writing. Yes, I have this strange idea that if I spend every day writing like a full time job this summer, I could complete Klarion I. Call me crazy. Right now, usually, I’d be reading a lot of workshop material. Instead, I’m getting my novella around for Paper Golem and going back to my novel. I like going on writing retreats, but THERE’S some food for thought, right there. Productivity versus fun.

Ah-hah! You scream type A at me! No, don’t go all crazy. Fun is still number one. But I have been gifted with a huge chunk of time to write. I’ll keep writing from May 14th until June 6th, but starting June 9th until July 29th, large tracks of free time are mine. What would it be like to be a full-time writer? I think I’ll get a simulation going on.

Okay. Students coming in for interviews, followed by a day of the last interview. Hurrah?

You might remember that I am losing weight mostly to deal with some health issues. I want pressure off of my arthritic knee. I want less acid reflux. I want better breathing for the dust allergy. How’s that going?

I remain in the 20 pounds lighter zone. This last month at work was pretty bad, so I haven’t really been working on it. More or less, though, I’ve been maintaining. Work has lightened up considerably this week, as you can see by the fact that I have written 3 journal entries, so I’m back in the swing of things.

About this time last year, I was considering using a cane for those times when my knee just ached. My knee still hurts on occasion, such as when I step down from a giant firetruck platform without noticing the size of the step, but I climb stairs now, and descend stairs now, which was the more painful part, quiet easily. Taking 20 pounds off my knee has been a success. I can even run a little bit, although I don’t push that.

As to reflux, I would have to say that my diet has helped there more than my weight loss. Of course, losing weight is helpful. BUT that said, what is more helpful is the no coffee, no chocolate, no soda thing. The new slant box for the mattress is also helpful.

Breathing is also a considerable change. Not lugging around 20 pounds more means it’s easier to breathe. I am less likely to hack up a lung when I try to exert myself, and I no longer snore or pop at night. The dust allergy and triggers seem less severe.

From a health perspective, I will definitely say that even if I didn’t drop more weight, these results are worth it. I do have plans to try to take off more, because I want to feel better than I do now. When I started, I had 76 pounds to lose. Now I am over my “ideal” weight by about 56 pounds. As I mentioned above, work has settled down considerably, so now I will begin phase two. It took me six months to lose twenty pounds. Slow and steady wins the race. By the end of October, I would like to have 36 pounds left to lose.

The next stage begins today, as this is the day I weigh in. I have come to think of the first phase as the thyroid med phase. This one will be labeled the fruits and vegetables stage. Over the summer, I plan to cook at home more, and make fruits and veggies my habit. Not just fruits and veggies, but they will be what I plan my meals around, and they will become my go to snack.

Anyway, I’m feeling better.

And now some quick writing updatery.

I have been writing. While it has been impossible to get away every day to do it, I have still been doing it frequently during the week, and all the time that has been taken away has been put back into my life later.

So, what’s going on with Author Stump?

The Love Song of Oliver Toddle is currently out at a reprint market.
O-Taga-San is currently out at a YA market.
Cookies has received a second round bump-up to an editor in chief. I sincerely hope that it finds a good place. I am very proud of Cookies.
The Two Sisters has just gone out on its third journey.

The Ground is Full of Teeth, the title for my were-dog novella now, will soon be returning to a place that asked me for rewrites. It’s just a matter of proofing and critiques.

Novel-a-thon for Detcon (I want my novel’s first draft to be done by Detcon) begins this Thursday.

***

Something else to be aware of. As you know, I have stories in Cucurbital 2 and Cucurbital 3 at Paper Golem. 2013 will be the last year to get either a hard cover or a soft cover copy of the book for a variety of reasons. The book will continue to be available electronically. NOT that this is an urgent matter, but if you want a dead tree style version of this book, you’d best get on it by December.

I read in 5-10 minute increments most of the time. In this way, I find that I get a lot of reading done, in spite of a very full professorial life. Mind, there are times when I have more time to read. I am not entirely an ADD reader.

There are a couple of items I’d like to bring to your attention that I’ve looked at recently.

London Falling by Paul Cornell: Imagine Neil Cross of Luther fame and Neil Gaiman of Neil Gaiman fame had a love child. That love child would be London Falling, Paul Cornell’s first in a series of magical police procedural novels. It’s as British as it gets, and being fairly British (Mom’s from Scotland), I enjoyed it. There’s one scary damned villain in the piece, and some of the good guys hit the scary vibe as well. The police research is impeccable. No doubt, many of you have read this, and you’re thinking, “Yeah. Duh. What took you so long?” The answer is that I’m a little over a year behind on my to read list. The good news for me is that I hear there’s a sequel coming out soon, so in another year, I’ll read another one. 😀

The Enola Holmes series by Nancy Springer: For those of you who like to read or write middle-grade, if you haven’t done so, you might like to take a look at Nancy Springer’s Enola Holmes books. I’ve made it through the first two and have four more to go. Enola is indeed the younger sister of Sherlock and Mycroft, and you could see where a book like this could go south. This book avoids that with really solid portrayals of Sherlock and Enola. Enola is resourceful and clever, but not in a cliche way. Springer’s research into the period is some of the most in-depth research I’ve seen.

Fevre Dream by George R. R. Martin: Game of Thrones leaves me cold. I’ve tried to start it, and it’s not my kind of thing. This, this was my kind of thing. The oldest, ugliest, riverboat captain in the world takes on vampires. Fantastic. This book is a masterwork, and the character is one of my favorite ever in speculative fiction. It’s artistic and beautiful, and if you want to see Martin kills some bad guys who really deserve it, well, there you go.

What have you been reading lately? Any recommendations for me?

What, you say, happened to week 26? I blame work. That’s all I can do.

Here’s the report.

Beginning Wii Weight: 223.8 (My heaviest ever after this summer.)
Wii Weight on 4-30-14: 204.1 (a gain of 1.5)
Total: 19.7 pounds LOST

Weight Watchers on Initial Weigh In: 224
Weight Watchers on 4-30-14: 207.6 (I didn’t weigh in. I wanted a night eating at home.)
Total: 16.4 pounds

What do you have to say for yourself? First of all, I’ve been getting all drama llama over the amount of work I have to do. I have not been happy, been stressing, and not taking care of myself. All this, not just the overeating makes me gain weight. Yesterday, I was about another pound heavier.

What’s your plan? Stop being a drama llama. The end of my 4 week crazy work month is in sight. And, even if it wasn’t, I still need to get some perspective. I’m not worried about my weight as much as I am concerned about my happiness. Happiness=weight loss on planet Catherine. And Catherine has been forgetting to laugh, be delighted, carve out time for herself, and stuff like that.

Hey, don’t look at me like that. I get all my writing time back. And did you expect me not to relapse on the road to recovery? Really? Because what kind of unrealistic expectation is that shit? 🙂

So, I’m back to making happiness number one. That might mean a little more food right now, not as the only way to be happy, or a substitute for other rewards, but I’m focusing on happy, whatever it takes. And relaxation. And delight. And perspective.

Fitness: The Wii Fit meter continues to be good for me. Even on days that I don’t make the calorie count it has set for me, it makes me more likely to make the attempt.

***

Okay. Two more interviews this week, one more next week. Then get the student rankings and make the decision on the new teacher. All the orientations and registration sessions are over. Just residuals. One more teacher evaluation meeting. A couple of batches of tests. Some projects. Finals. Finishing the last fourth of the novella (again) and proofing it. Taking the cat back to the vet for the cyst, round two. (no more seizures. Just cyst refills).

What I’m trying to say is that we are on the downward slope, and I have embraced not stressing. But if I were to list all the things I have done these last three weeks, I might insufferably preen, so it’s maybe better to look through this end of the telescope. Work will always be there, so I choose to be okay with that, and suffer less.

***

Will I ever return to blogging on a regular basis? Will I ever get back to my novel? And what about the Paradise Icon website, or research for Wiscon?

Yeah, what about them? 😛 All things in their time.

All I can say is that the gods of my day job are laughing at me, and I should not have tempted them by making that foolish remark about having more time on Monday. It serves me right, I suppose.

***

So, almost the weekend. What can I tell you that you might be interested in?

Well, I continue to get rejections and send things out. And other things that may or may not come to fruition.

This weekend my hope is to get the novella out of the shop and back into the hands of the nice people who suggested they would like a second look with improvements.

More sobering news is that Sekhmet had a seizure Tuesday. She was playing, and then she lifted her paw like something was stuck in it, then her back legs went out, and she was confused. From the time this occurred to the time we were dressed and ready to start all the calls to take us out of our day, however, she was up and walking normally like this had not happened. No repeats. Doc has definitely confirmed it is a seizure, and she’ll get a blood test and a cyst looked at this weekend, but we may never know what happened, and have to live with ambiguity. You know, I’m okay with ambiguity as long as it doesn’t happen again. And…she’s also off her kitty meds, which means she’s back to looking like Raggedy Cat and licking off her own fur.

Less sobering news is that the new drapes and rods are up, and they look faboo, especially at night when they are an opaque royal blue.

Okay, so, I leave you now to conquer the weekend, burn a lot of calories, eat like a sane person, and write. I hope you are all well. I have a couple of ideas about interesting things to write here, but I suspect they must wait until orientation/registration/new job hire/teacher evaluations are over. In about two weeks.

This week looks to allow for some more posts than last week. Well, we can hope anyway. Here’s the weigh in on the weight loss from last week.

Beginning Wii Weight: 223.8 (My heaviest ever after this summer.)
Wii Weight on 4-17-14: 202.6 (a loss of 2.4, and also my weight today!)
Total: 21.2 pounds LOST

Weight Watchers on Initial Weigh In: 224
Weight Watchers on 3-25-14: 207.6 (the same)
Total: 16.4 pounds

New dog tricks: This weekend we had an Easter brunch, and I planned for it. I did not plan for my Red Lobster binge on Saturday, but I seem to be okay so far. I have done A LOT of exercise, so maybe that’s countermanded it. I think we’ll know more tomorrow.

I’m trying to eat small snacks between the major meals to keep the metabolism going, and I’m shutting food down no later than 7.

Unhappiness: In spite of my reflux strategies, I’ve been more gassy this last week. Could it be…STRESS? It could. I’m also keeping an eye on what I eat before I have an attack. Today, it seems awfully hard to believe it could be oatmeal and blueberries…but there you go.

The Future: I want to be below 200 for Wiscon. That gives me 5 weeks to loose 2.6 pounds, and not gain any more weight. Let’s see what happens.

I need new clothes. Just got back into some 14s from the past, and summer will be a good time to buy some transition pieces.

Well, that’s my plane booked and my flight booked for Detcon 1 in July. Just felt the need to kibbitz with some writers and, I guess, go to Detroit. As usual, it will be a solo trip.

So, if you’ll be there, let me know. I’m letting you know now. You see how that works?

Saturday was a gorgeous day in Iowa, with temperatures in the 80s. We were out a bit. I have the sunburn to prove it (slightly red. Not going for skin cancer here.)

Sunday was a rainy day. And we needed a relaxing day, as our storm radio kept alarming us awake until about 12:30. We didn’t get the ping pong sized hail many of you had, but we were prepared to take cover at a moment’s notice. So, what did I do with Sunday? Napped and hemmed new curtains. Such a life.

This week the temperature will fight its way back into a seasonal 60 degrees.

***

Writing this week continues to be the novella. I am thinking about maybe going to Detcon, but I haven’t looked into it at all yet. Stay tuned.

Have a great Monday.

Hmmm…there’s that feeling I’d been missing since I hadn’t written many short stories recently. The awesome feeling of REJECTION!!! (Da da dum!!!) That would be four in the last two weeks, three of which are right back out there, and one of which is in the revision factory. If you add that the Abigail Rath rejections, it’s been a…well, it’s been a typical writer’s year for my writing. Because rejection is the name of the game.

The rejections have been nice rejections. People know me. People are nice to me about my submissions and my writing. In two cases, the stories have gotten praise, but the available slots are few, and I knew that going in. In one case, the story was actually lost, and my long game of waiting did not pay off. And in the final case, rewrite suggestions, which is why this story is back in the hangar.

There have been times when it’s worn me down. Even when rejection is punctuated by acceptance, writers focus more on rejection. And you have to figure out that the alignment of the planets (your story) with the sun (an editor’s tastes and needs) and the moon (whatever other factors you can think of to throw in there, like did they just buy a story like that, or do they hate that particular kind of thing, or did you have typos in your letter, or did the editor have a bad burrito experience), well, all of this makes it any wonder that anything gets published ever. So it goes.

You might remember my hearty essay on not giving a damn. What I’m finding pretty helpful right now is the value of not writing in a vacuum. I have great readers who are supportive and reassure me when the need is there. I hope I can do the same for them. Becoming a published writer is not immediate gratification, and it’s good when you have people in your corner, because lots of things about publication are capricious.

So, shout outs and kudos. And yeah, still just doing the best art that it can. These circulating stories have legs. It’s a matter of time.