Category: General

There are many of you coming to Wiscon, I know, and I’d like to meet those of you who are coming. Let me tell you about my schedule first, so you can sneak in and see me do either of my things, if you’re interested.

Title: Journeys of Self-Discovery
Saturday, 4:00-5:15 P.M.
Conference2

Las Habladoras, my reading group, will be presenting a multi-media presentation. Cat Horsfield has drawn art for each of our stories. Julie Rose has put together a soundtrack for each reading, and four of us: Yolanda Joosten, Jenn Racek, Julie Rose, and myself, will be reading. Yo is reading about alien lawyers and love, Jenn is reading about faerie lands, Julie has a haunting piece set in Norway, and I am reading part of my rural fantasy YA.

But the most important reason to come is the free-trade dark chocolate!

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The other programming I’m involved in is academic, if literature interests you.

Title: Tradition & Liberation in the Fantastic
Monday, 10:00-11:15 A.M.
Conference 3

I’ll be sharing the spotlight with another presenter. I’ll be sharing the paper Azazello’s Cream, discussing a more feminist friendly reading of Margarita from Master and Margarita. I’m sure that’s not what the author intended, but it’ll be an interesting what-if for readers.

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Other than that, I’m going to hang out with my good author buddies, and my friends Dan and Lisa. I’m going to see my sublime publisher Sonya M. Sipes of Cats Curious. I know Tiffany Trent will be there, and I’m excited to meet her, especially since I am now a full-fledged fan of her work. 🙂 I’ll be seeing my fellow Broads, especially Phoebe Wray, whose book I have to buy.

What about you? Are you coming? Can I see you ? Do youwant to see me? Just say so, and we’ll work something out.

I love Wiscon. Rainbows and kitties, after spring rain smell kind of love.

Did I mention there’s karaoke too? Just wow.

Catherine

This was a nice one, albeit still a rejection from Krista Goering.

“Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to read and consider THE SUBSTANCE OF SHADOWS. Unfortunately, I don’t think I am the right agent to represent your work. I only take on fiction projects that I am absolutely crazy about and while your writing is certainly excellent, I can’t say I was immediately absorbed by the story. So I’ll have to pass.”

That’s cool. My excellent writing and I can take it. Thanks for the compliment! 🙂

Shouldn’t I be working or something? Oh yeah.

Catherine

A good little professor, I’ve set up the vetting group for the Portus YA Reading Series. You might remember that I’m on the board of the HPEF, and we’re trying to expand our programming a bit by inviting YA authors, especially new ones, to come and share their work with us.

We’ve had a few takers, but I’d love to have more. ESPECIALLY local Texas authors who wouldn’t have to sell their first born children for gasoline this year. If you know ANYONE that you think might benefit from a public reading at a convention with several YA readers eager to hear their new stuff, please let them know to contact me.

I’m taking submissions until May 15th.

Catherine

And we’re back from Demicon. Iowa is beautiful and spring-like. The students are taking finals. After last week, my next big push begins tomorrow, as I pretty much have to check tests and figure grades all day. However, once I graduate the students on Wednesday, I am more or less on my summer schedule. I’m not sure what that means yet, exactly, but I hope to know by the end of the week.

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Mostly, I popped in to update on my queries.

Ken Sherman of Ken Sherman
Alexandra Machinist of Linda Chester
Chris Lotts of Ralph Vicinanza
Rosemary Stimola of Stimola Literary
Paul Rodeen of Sterling Lord Literistic

Julie has sent the Wiscon promotional materials. We’re getting closer to being ready for that. It’s our next big field trip, and the last one before two weeks in Japan.

Curse you, Tiffany Trent! Curse you and your cliff hanger ways.

(It was good. I’ll be going out and buying more as soon as possible.)

Writing? No. :/ Checking? Oh yeah.

Catherine

…the world’s fastest ear infection, for which I am grateful. Put your trust in drugs! Now, if the semester would just end. I’m back to getting work done at home, because there is no time at school for such frivolousness. Instead, I have a constant cavalcade of students. Which isn’t normally bad, but does make it hard to do the administrative part of my job…

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But you want pimperella! Here you go!

Jeaniene Frost–One Foot in the Grave released yesterday. Paranormal romance, normally not my thing, but you know, I’m buying the second one. It’s good, and (un)dead sexy.

Melissa Marr–Ink Exchange new YA near you, set in the world of Wicked Lovely, which is eerily haunting.

Tiffany Trent–Hallowmere NOT a book release, but the series is new to me, and I’m loving it! Right now I’m reading the first one, and it’s very well written. If you like Libba Bray, you’ll like this series, and if you like faeries, girls boarding schools, witches, or historical fantasy, give it a try. Trust me. Really.

Julie Rose–more writer and music interviewsLauren Dane and Heather Domin Thanks, Julie, for giving us a unique view into the creative process.

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Um…so. The plan tonight is to go buy some books, and then to work on the Portus YA Reading Series Vetting group. (If time allows. The Man (TM) tells me he wants to buy a garden hose, and I want to go buy some books. But yeah. I’ll be doing a joint professorial/writerly thing tonight. Then, if there’s any time left, it’s back to Azazello’s Cream

Off to support my fellow faculty at this year’s Endowed Chairs soiree (can we have a soiree in the afternoon? I’m not sure we can…), and to be introduced as one of next year’s chairs.

Catherine

This week, Substance out to

Elizabeth Harding of Curtis Brown
Jane Dystel of Dystel and Goderich
Jennifer Flannery of Flannery
Melissa Chinchillo of Fletcher and Parry
Jennifer Weltz of Jean V. Naggar

Stats for Substance so far:

22 Unknown Out There
4 Partial Requests
1 Full Request
6 Closed/No Response
57 Rejections
28 Future Prospects

I really, really like Query Tracker. I really like keeping track of the numbers. It also looks like I have about one and a half months left before I run out of agents to query. Probably about the end of June, given that I’ll be heading off to Japan in that time span.

I guess that means I’m ready to start hearing from those of you who have submitted manuscripts without agents. Where should I go to get more information on this? Teach me, for I am eager to learn!

Catherine

Since I am writing about Master and Margarita, I can say that idle hands are the devil’s handiwork. Or Woland’s. Or whatever.

4,074 / 6,000 (67.9%)

I’ve really focused in on my angle today. I’ll be analyzing this work from a feminist perspective, but what I’ll be trying to focus on is whether Margarita’s liberation as a witch while serving Woland is a journey of self-discovery, or whether she’s being placed on a pedestal in a medieval way. Both theories have been advanced about the novel.

I’m going to talk about Margarita from a second-wave feminist perspective–shedding her prosperous but loveless middle class marriage to choose the Master, his art, and poverty. Yet, there are some third-wave comments that can be made. Is she really in love with the master, or his art? What is truly her agenda in serving Woland’s purpose? Why are she and the Master taken away from the reality of Moscow at the end of the novel and “saved” while being denied “salvation?” Is she in control of her own destiny? Is her inherent difference (difference feminism *is* an interesting idea) what is being noticed by the others in the novel?

Lots of good questions now that I’ve done some munging about in the shallows of feminism, to try to think about how to interpret the story. Women in Russia REALLY like this story. It speaks to them. Hrm.

Probably won’t weigh in until later tomorrow, if then. Have to register many students for summer and fall.

Catherine

Loves me the progress meter!

3,016 / 6,000 (50.3%)

Last night our reading group met to get organized. We had lots of good suggestions for books, some I knew, and some I didn’t, but I’m looking forward to reading. We have a good mix of well-known and newer writers. We’re going to try to get some writers in to talk about their work as well. Except Bulgakov. He’s dead. And Stephen King. He’s too expensive.

At any rate, our first book will be The Yiddish Policeman’s Union by Michael Chabon. I read The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, and it remains one of my favorite books, so I’m pretty excited about this.

The surprise selection of the night? The choice of Happy Hour of the Damned by someone NOT me. Go get ’em, Mark Henry.

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Rejected by Kate Scherler today. Just for the record. I’ve got to start on that paper, and then get on some travel planning. Ciao.

Catherine