daily life

I figured that spending a Sunday morning pruning wasn’t the worst way to use one’s time, so I went out to do battle with the various plants along the entryway to our building. The rhododendron had grown out so aggressively that there was (literally) less than a foot clearance when trying to get through there.

I like pruning. When I took Master Gardening training, it was my favorite part. I like the idea of coaxing shape out of the wood, of encouraging it in a particular direction, coaxing it up and out. The rhododendron was pleasant to do, particularly since it hadn’t been done in a LONG time and I could use my little hand saw to clear some undergrowth out. The opposite facing hedge was much less so, and held a number of g’normous (but pretty) snails and a baby bird’s skeleton (luckily I realized what it was -after- I’d dropped it and it was so fleshless that it was actually kinda neat.)

I trimmed back a lot of stuff that was encroaching on the sidewalk and it all looks much more tidy and like people instead of ghosts live here.

Now I feel I have been productive as well as gotten me some exercise so I am going to go in search of a burger.

Very little writing writing done, but the second to last and much of the last read-aloud pass done for the current manuscript. Lurking in the background is the sequel, which is halfway drafted. One 6k word story finished.

2 galleys checked; 18 queries sent; 3 reviews written; 2 stories rewritten; 6 submissions; 2 reprints appeared; 4 job apps; 1 unsuccessful interview because recruiter had misrepresented my experience; 2 guest blog posts written.

Plans for April: Crank on sequel, keep freelancing where possible (HelloSeattle, mainly). I have two manuscripts I need to finish notes on (Hi Lilah and Alicia :p) and three reviews to write. I’ll be at Norwescon April 22 through 24 and at Penguicon in Troy, Michigan, April 29-May 1, where I am a “Nifty” Guest.

It’s snowy out, the sort of snow I grew up with in Northern Indiana. A clumpy snow, a little wet, so it clings to branches in inch thick lines, making some more snow than branch. Last night I watched it drifting past the light in the parking lot, which illuminated a sphere of falling snow, like an open-air snow globe, the good kind without sparkles or glitter, just evocative white bits that make us think of quiet nights, growing quieter as the snow muffles sound.

Sometimes writers need to stop and look and figure out what makes a scene real, what distinguishes it from one of the many movie backdrops in our heads, so that when we recreate it or take a piece from it or somehow incorporate it into a piece of writing, we can convey that quality. Karen Joy Fowler mentioned that often the most unique detail of a landscape is one of the most transitory: a busker, the shape of a cloud, the noise of the rock concert next door. Right now it’s snow for me. So, I ask you – what’s the most evocative detail of your current landscape?

We went down to Newport, Oregon for New Year’s. In past years we’ve gone to the San Juans, and we figured this time we’d try a change of pace.

Yesterday I blogged about some of the things coming in 2011, and I’d like to raise the question to the readers of this blog – what would you like to see more of in 2011 (on this blog, although in the world in general might be entertaining too.)

Today also marks my first review for a new site, Rise Reviews. The site’s devoted to reviewing small press books, and my first pick was an anthology edited by Joselle Vanderhoof, Steam-Powered: Lesbian Steampunk Stories from Torquere Press. I hope you’ll check out my review of Steam-Powered, and perhaps the anthology as well (alas, I could not find it on Amazon).

Or if you celebrate some other holiday at this time of year, happy that. Maybe your days be merry and bright, and may there be many more of them to come!

And if you just got a Kindle or e-reader, may I remind you that you can get my collection for it for a mere $2.99?

Overall, 2010’s been a much better year than 2009, although it’s had its less pleasant moments, such as special assessment convulsions in my condo complex, my Grandmother’s death in November, and the usual array of rejections implicit in being a writer and sending stuff out. 🙂

On the bright side, my collection was a 2010 Endeavour Award finalist and I had fourteen stories published in 2010. Here’s the list, with a notable reprint and two podcasts to boot:

1. 2020 VISIONS, edited by Rick Novy. Therapy Buddha.

A dark story of data herds and contraband foods, edited by a fellow Codex writer.

2. CLOCKWORK PHOENIX 3, 2010, edited by Mike Allen. Surrogates.

An R-rated absurdist story telling of Belinda and Bingo’s love.

3. TRIANGULATION: END OF THE RAINBOW, 2010, edited by Bill Moran. In Order to Conserve.

A reprint from the collection, which also appeared as a podcast on Podcastle. A slim little political fable.

4. M-BRANE, January, 2010. Fire on the Water’s Heart.

Far flung tragedy of alien species interacting and sparking a doomed romance.

5. MOOT MAGAZINE, April 2010. Biosapiens.

Who is V-man, what does he want, and why does he glow under certain conditions?

6. MOOT MAGAZINE, April, 2010. The Strange Case of Maya Andaluz.

Graduate student and artist Maya is abducted by a strange alien light, leaving behind a fishbowl filled with desiccated fish and half-melted glass pebbles.

7. EXPANDED HORIZONS, June, 2010. Coyote Barbie.

Contains a favorite line of mine, “Barbies who run with the wolves”.

8. EXPANDED HORIZONS, July, 2010. Swamp Gas.

This was originally written for the Apex magazine contest asking writers to combine urban legends with UFOs – it’s my version of the vanishing hitchhiker.

9. EVERY DAY FICTION, August, 2010. The Investigation.

Flash fiction detailing events in a mythical location that I think of as vaguely French.

10. PODCASTLE, August, 2010. Sugar.

A Tabat story that originally appeared in the first Fantasy Magazine sampler and was later reprinted in my collection.

11. LIGHTSPEED, September, 2010. Amid the Words of War. (Kindle version)

One of my Clarion West stories, the first set at the brothel The Little Teacup of the Soul.

12. DAILY SCIENCE FICTION, September, 2010. Seeking Nothing.

2010 was a year for dark SF, and here’s another example of that.

13. CROSSED GENRES, September, 2010. Centzon Totochin.

Horror set in a small Mexican town.

14. EVERY DAY FICTION, September, 2010. Love Affair.

Written during my grad student days at Indiana University.

15. TOR.COM, October, 2010. Clockwork Fairies

Perhaps my favorite of the 2010 publications, this is my attempt to talk about some of the problems implicit in the steampunk genre. I -love- the accompanying artwork by Gregory Manchess.

16. REDSTONE SCIENCE FICTION, November, 2010. Not Waving, Drowning

A final dark story of a marriage between telepath and non-telepath to finish out the year.

In 2011, I have stories coming out from ABYSS & APEX (Bots d’Amor), BENEATH CEASELESS SKIES (Love, Resurrected), BULL SPEC (The Coffeemaker’s Passion), GIGANOTOSAURUS (Karaluvian Fale, which Armageddon players should note is set in Allanak), DAILY SCIENCE FICTION (Pippa’s Smiles), LIGHTSPEED (Long Enough And Just So Long), SHADOWS AND LIGHT II (Aquila’s Ring, another story that Armageddon players will be interested in, since it takes place in Allanak and Tuluk). Podcastle will be doing an audio version of my collaboration with Jeff VanderMeer, The Surgeon’s Tale.

I got a Kindle and discovered the joys of e-readers, and even converted my collection, EYES LIKE SKY AND COAL AND MOONLIGHT, into a Kindle version, as well as one for other e-readers.