Submission updates and writers’ conferences
“Finnegan’s Pig” has made it past round 1 of reading at ASIM. They said I should be hearing from them in about three weeks – that was about three weeks ago. They recently temporarily closed to submissions, so I’m sure they’re beyond swamped! I’ll wait at least another couple of weeks before I inquire. I’m excited to see whether they’ll take it. It sounds like it’s perfect for their format. So far, this one has been the favorite among my family members (who never pass up an opportunity to chuckle at the image of a huge pig eating Jesus – we’re a blasphemous lot, what can I say?).
Haven’t heard a peep from IGMS about “The Conductor,” which is to be expected. They gave a 3-month turnaround time for submissions! I’m being patient.
I wrote a very interesting flash for the annual flash contest at LH. Other forum members and I are on pins and needles waiting to read all the submissions. The trigger was excellent – “Schiamachy: Fighting with a shadow or an imaginary opponent.” Intriguing! That should have produced some juicy tidbits from the LH crew. Part of the fun in this challenge is that some readers for Flash Fiction Online are going to read all the entries – so we all get to bypass the slush pile. If the FFO readers don’t bite on my story, I’ll have another to send out next week. 
In other news, I finished a 9-page working outline for my novel, jokingly working-titled Walk Like an Egyptian. I completely redid the beginning of the story and came up with a creative twist that should entertain fiction readers and piss off every Egyptologist and Egyptology nerd on the planet. It can’t be helped – art before truth. Ha ha.
I’m hammering away at a minimum of 3 pages per day on the new and improved Walk Like an Egyptian. It’s coming together fairly well so far. Soon I’ll be sending the first couple of chapters off to Marianna, my super-excellent reader. She gets to read everything I write before anybody else does because she’s got an amazing brain and a degree in creative writing. And lots of time on her hands, and she gets bored frequently and needs stuff to do. It’s a great arrangement. Hopefully she will like the opening and I won’t have to revise the hook any more. I hate writing hooks – I suck at it, or so I think.
I’ve started compiling lists of conferences to attend next year. I will definitely be going to the Willamette Writers’ Conference in Portland next August. I’m blocking off the dates on my calendar after I finish this post. An agent, Paige Wheeler, will be there accepting pitches. She is on the top of my list for this novel. From what it says on her site, it should be a good fit, so as long as she likes my writing I’m hopeful that she might be interested. Being able to pitch to her in person is appealing. And there are other agents who are going to attend, as well. I’ll definitely pick a few others to toss the idea at. Somebody out there has got to think it’s interesting!
It’s about that time…
We didn’t lose power for too terribly long with the wind storm that came through Thursday night. Last winter we had an absolutely terrible one and our block was without power for three days. It was miserable. Kind of scary how much we take technology for granted, isn’t it? I have a feeling that global climate change will turn Seattle into the next “Windy City.” The wind has been outrageous the last few years.
Will and I went to Julia Sweeney’s one-woman show, “Letting Go of God,” last night as part of our anniversary celebration. It was a really fantastic show – touching and funny at the same time. Julia is an amazing actress – one of the best at timing and emotion that I’ve ever seen, I must say. You wouldn’t think of her that way if your only taste of her talents comes from her many comedy gigs. She is very funny, but wow – many times throughout the show her words and delivery gave me chills and moved me to tears. The show was beautifully written and beautifully performed. It was also a strange and exhilarating experience to be in a theater packed with people who mostly must have been atheists. Sure, there were undoubtedly some who were not, but judging by the way the audience laughed at the same jokes it was clear that atheists were at least in the majority. I’ve never been to any kind of meeting of atheists or a similar event, so knowing that I was not the despised minority in a large, full room for once filled me with warmth. And the rest of the crowd seemed to feel the same way – everybody was smiling at each other and strangers were chatting as if they were old friends. A very nice sense of community.
Anyhow, if you get a chance to see “Letting Go of God,” please do. It’s beautifully affirming for atheists but also treats religion with respect and sympathy – I think that any reasonably secure religious person would thoroughly enjoy it just for the excellent writing and acting. And Julia Sweeney is so cute. She is in her mid-forties and is already greying, and has opted not to dye her hair to cover it up. I thought she was just gorgeous with her cute steel-grey pixie cut. I wanted to hug her.
So it’s about time for me to try submitting a story for publication. We’ll see how it goes. I made another edit to The Conductor and I think I might have cleared up all the major issues readers had with understanding the story. I posted it on LH for critiquing and am looking forward to hearing whether I was successful in making my story clearer. If I pulled it off, I’ll be handing it over to Will for a final read-through and then I’ll be poring over Duotrope to figure out my best bet for submissions. This is a super exciting time!!
Next weekend I’ll be in Oregon with my friends for a model horse show. It will be nice to go play for a while. I’ve been pushing myself very hard to get through my commission backlog this winter, while I’ve got some down time from photography obligations, but in the process I’ve absolutely destroyed my right hand. I flared up my radial neuritis so badly I’ve been strapped into my splints and chowing down Naproxen 24/7. 
Need a break!!
Grr…yrrrrg…
Must…take…pictures! So apparently a down side of the off season is that I don’t get to pick up my camera much. Well – I don’t HAVE to pick up my camera much. I realized this morning that I can if I want to, and I definitely want to. It’s been about 10 days since I photographed anything, and I’m getting all itchy, especially since the leaves are so stunning right now. I haven’t seen fall color this nice in the Seattle area in many, many years. I wonder what the magic equation is for awesome leaves.
I’m heading to the zoo today to spend a few hours shooting. It has a real purpose, too, beyond just being fun. I really NEED to get my butt in gear and get my notecard sets together and up on Etsy so I can make some scratch this winter. If I’m lucky I might sell a single story for less than $200.00, but otherwise I have virtually no income this winter (although I might get to shoot promotional pics for a cherry juice company! That ought to be fun! We haven’t even gotten to pay negotiations, though, so who knows if it will pan out). So notecards it is!
Then after the zoo I’ll be back to polish up The Conductor. I had my husband read it last night and I have to admit that the sincere enthusiasm in his voice when he gave me his feedback made me feel all girly and special. My heart beat a little faster to think that I can make a real impression on him. There’s nothing like impressing the guy you’ve got a crush on, is there? <3<3<3<3<3 I’m the luckiest girl in the world. My husband is the best.
Back soon with pics of animals and leaves.
Help; head expanding to epic proportions.
After cruising through Duotrope I’ve decided that I’m going to polish up the Mystery Flash, make it a tad longer and a tad clearer, and then bite the bullet and submit it first to Writers of the Future.
Because why the hell not? I think it kicks some ass. Maybe they will, too.
This is a big step for me, making this decision, because even though getting even an honorable mention in WotF is a great honor, I really, really hate L. Ron Hubbard and am loathe to associate anything about myself with him. Dude was a total wiener. But on the other hand…Writers of the Future contest.
I’m already looking forward to every October for the rest of my career.
October has always been my favorite time of year. I love the cold weather, the leaves turned but still on the trees, and most of all, Halloween. Halloween is officially the greatest holiday ever. I made it official because I say so. There is nothing to not love about it. Plus, added bonus: It’s our wedding anniversary, because Will feels the same way about it as I do.
Now, though, with my first profitable year of my photography career coming to a close, I’ve found another reason to love October. It’s essentially the end of the wedding season for my area. Sure, there are always a few weddings in the fall and winter, but for the most part they’re all over the summer – especially the ones with larger budgets, since it always costs a fair chunk of change to reserve the few outdoor facilities that exist in the Puget Sound area and then to rent plenty of tents since you never know when it’s going to dump rain here. Since I am a high-midrange photographer in terms of price, most of my work is, therefore, during the summer when the couples with cashola are getting hitched.
This week I’ve discovered how nice the end of the season can be. I’ve done nothing but write like a madwoman for two straight days. It feels SO GOOD. I haven’t been able to write this prolifically since I was in high school (when I should have been doing my homework instead). I’ve tackled a few more chapters of my novel’s rough draft and I’ll be doing a few more later this evening. For now, I might go to the zoo with my camera for a while. Most of the animals aren’t very interested in actually doing anything when it’s cold like this, but that might be a good thing for me and my camera.
Walk Like an Egyptian is progressing well. I need to polish up a couple of short stories. Last night on NPR I heard a little snippet of a conversation that inspired me to write another short story – I’ve got to research it a bit tonight, too. A busy day ahead, but it’s all fun-busy, so I’m a happy camper.
Woot! Another chapter down!
Good news: This morning I finished another chapter in my historical fic novel. Still no title for it – I am super slow at coming up with titles. A suitable one usually doesn’t occur to me until I’m about halfway through the work, and then I end up hating that one and trying on a few dozen more before just settling on the least offensive of them all.
Right now, I’m affectionately calling my novel “Walk Like an Egyptian.” Don’t worry – that won’t be the actual title, unless I end up with an agent who is absolutely insane.
My shades arrived but alas, they are just not working. The lenses are too narrow and they let in too much light. I’m going to have to exchange them for a different set of frames. Bummer – I love the way they look on me but they just aren’t practical, especially for driving glasses! My regular, non-shade specs should be in later today, hopefully! Love those ones.
I have absolutely no “real” work to get done today, so I’m going to spend a few hours writing this morning and then move on to something completely useless and fun. Rumor has it Will and I might go to the zoo this afternoon and visit the baby tapir. We loves us some tapir babies.
Edit to add: Okay, I took the intriguing novel quiz in Aye, Aye, Skipper’s blog (linked in my blogroll, of course). My results:
You’re A Prayer for Owen Meany!
by John Irving
Despite humble and perhaps literally small beginnings, you inspire
faith in almost everyone you know. You are an agent of higher powers, and you manifest
this fact in mysterious and loud ways. A sense of destiny pervades your every waking
moment, and you prepare with great detail for destiny fulfilled. When you speak, IT
SOUNDS LIKE THIS!
Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.
WHAAAAT? An agent of higher powers? Inspiring faith? I’ve seldom met a person who is more atheistic than I am. heehee! I guess the novel quiz didn’t work out for me, although it is true that when I talk IT SOUNDS LIKE THIS.
