And the Verdict is...

For those of you who hang on my every word and whim...

No. I didn't make it into the Anthology.

Poop.

BUT! I DID get my very first Rejection E-mail! Sweeeeet!

And! It said some pretty interesting things about my story. Such as the fact that the editor thought that my story was "enjoyable" and had "very strong characters".  So that was good!

From what I understand they had a huge number of submissions for this anthology, and the competition was fierce. I'm very happy knowing that I write strong characters and enjoyable stories.

Now.

To make them Longer. Stronger. and Less able to Resist...

(That sounded way less dirty in my head...)



PS!  Everyone should go to White Cat Publications and check out their website. It's got loads of stuff! I was trying to get into the Airships & Automatons book... There is something for everyone there!

Impatience

Here I am.

Sitting here.

Waiting.  doot de do.

Till September. gah.

I know. It's only my first time.  But really. I may seriously lose my mind.

I try not to think about it. Which works.

For about a week. Or was that a day? Maybe I woke up in the middle of the night and checked my e-mail again...I can't remember...lack of sleep you know. Makes you kinda fuzzy about the edges.

SEPTEMBER!

Though I do have other things I need to do.

Like pick the bush beans. Cause that takes about 20 minutes. A day. Yup. *cough*

Or. Um. *checks e-mail* Pick the zucchini. Every 10 minutes. Then fling said zucchini across the road into the woods. My record is the big oak...which is a pretty hefty distance.

OO!  Pick and fling hornworms into the road so the cars can squish them! That's always pretty fun. *Checks e-mail*

Yah....I won't be getting a whole lot of writing done till I hear about the ToC for this anthology in September.

Why don't they prescribe valium anymore? Good lord.

Oh Summer!

This is my week over at Unicorn Bell...so hop on over there and check me out! I may even come up with a theme between now and tomorrow!  Oi...

Crazyness and Chaos!

Let's see. I have Family Lallapaloozarama Weekends Three weekends in a row. The first one was this past weekend. Awesome time was had by all, but now we're back to the grind. Until Friday. Then I head North. To the County. The Northern wilds of Maine. To the land of the Moose and Potato. Wow. I'm capitalizing a whole lot tonight. Things are very important. Apparently.

I'm also teaching a great class every Wednesday night for the next 6 nights. It's all about learning how to cook healthy foods, from scratch, on a budget. Awesome! Oh wait. 5 nights. Had the first one last week. It was good. My only problem is that I'm better with the one on one. Not so much the groups. Plus it was the First Class! *insert Carmina Burana music here*. It went kinda like this....

So! Who here has used a knife?
*Crickets*

Hmmm. Ok. (Goes over basic knife safety skills...)  Alright..! Who here has heard of Ratatouille!?
*Crickets with disgusted expressions*

Really? Huh. Ok. How about Zucchini. Ever seen a Zucchini?
*Crickets who have gone to get their cousins cause their legs are getting so tired*

Sigh.

Oh well. It'll get better.  First Classes are always hard.

And now I'm off! Must rest up. Have lots to do. I have to figure out what amazing words of wisdom I'm going to impart on the world for the week over at UB.

There is always the revealing of my diabolical master plan....but no...I still haven't figured out how to get the bunnies to hold still while I glitter glue their tails....

Brain Harvests

Blargh!

It seems that, of late, I only have so much brain to go around. Which means that my blog suffers a great deal. Sorry followers. As I know that you hang on to my Every Word!

The fun and exciting things that I am up to?

We are putting in no less then 8 raised beds so that we will not starve to death (a la Romantic Medieval Style) in the middle of the brutal Maine Winter. Hopefully the veggies behave better then they have been the past couple of weeks. I'm going to have to re-plant the spinach, beets, and other such greens as the weather we've had lately hasn't really allowed them to grow.

I'm also watching our Thirty tomato plants like a hawk because I have a sinking suspicion that they have The Blight. We've tried planting tomatoes for the past 4 years. We were successful once. The other three. Blight. This year I think is the last year. It's frustrating and time consuming and really just insulting to put all that work in...then BAM.  Blight.  Stupid Tomatoes.

We've put in grapes, strawberries, a kiwi vine, buttercup squash, cucumbers (which the army of slugs that I feed on a regular basis immediately destroyed...), and bush beans. We have yet to plant potatoes and shallots. Those will go in around the 4th of July or so. According to my Grandfather, that's the best time.

So.

What with all that stuff going on. All my 'free' time is put into writing! Priorities! I haven't forgotten you My Blog Followers! It will all calm down soon. Soon my time will be a bit more...um...well...that's a lie.

Ok. I'll be here! Sporadically! I promise! How's that?

So Many Blogs

This week I'm over At Unicorn Bell talking about the Characters in your heads.

Making you feel all sane and stuff.

Hopefully I will stick to some semblance of a schedule, and go with what I have planned...

Monday: Character Naming
Tuesday: Party!
Wednesday: Descriptions
Thursday: Getting inside THEIR heads
Friday : Wrap Up. Possible Critique.

Wish me Luck!

Hope to see you all over there...I'll be pretty lax here as I have a screaming busy week work wise and will probably have all I can handle keeping up with the HUNDREDS of comments I will be getting over at UB! (Hint!)

I'd like to thank...

Squeeeel!

I got my first blog award! It's very exciting!

It's this one:

 

I was nominated by the lovely Amanda from  Drama, Dice and Damsons! 

Very cool! Thank you! I shall be paying it forward within the next couple of days...as soon as my schedule calms down enough for me to spend more then 5 seconds on here. I just wanted to make sure I said thank you!

SO Thank you! Now...back to work...tomorrow's a killer..gah!

Y - You

Where would we as writers be without You, our audience? 

I know it sounds rather corny. Or maybe too "Deep Thought". But seriously. What are we writing for? I know for me, personally, there's a mix of reasons. The main one being simply that I must. But if I'm honest...I want to entertain. I want to have my story be told. I want someone, anyone, to pick up my book, read it and say "Huh! That was good! Where's the next one?" Just like I do with Jim Butcher. God Forbid that man ever stop writing...

Steampunk Dirigible...AWESOME!

I can't imagine ever Not writing. It's interesting the different reactions of people when they discover I write. Though I think that may be partly the fault of the genre in which I've chosen to write. Try explaining Steampunk to someone who doesn't even like Fantasy..."So, it's like if Tesla...you know who Tesla is? No? Hmmm. Do you know what a Tesla Coil is? No? Oh yes, they're still on Earth. They travel back and forth between 2012 and 1922.  But the 1922 is a different reality. It's as if a bunch of evil scientists had escaped and run rampant and taken over the world with their experiments. Oh, and there's dirigibles. No. Not everyone is an Evil Scientist. No the dirigibles don't all crash and burn like the... Look. It's Science Fiction. Not Real. TIME TRAVEL doesn't happen. That I know of. Ever seen the show Warehouse 13? YES?! That's Steampunk!! Good Christ...I need a whiskey..."

Yes. I did basically have this conversation. I doubt this will be my audience.

But I did want to take a few moments and welcome all my New Followers from the A - Z Blogfest!! Thank you for joining my craziness! I hope you enjoy my world!

W - Whoops

So. Totally forgot about W. Even though I had gotten way far ahead in my planning for this fest I was writing the week ahead on the weekend. And last week I got the Alien Death Plague. So this week I've been playing Catch Up. Thought I was doing pretty darn good. Stupid W.

Looking back in my notes I think I had a blog planned for Whiskey, which can't be right because this is my "Writing" day. So you know what. I'm calling it! I got nothing. Mainly cause I'm still kinda stupid from being sick. And secondly, stupid W.

So here's some pictures of some Wombats! First a cute cuddly baby one! Awwww. Don't you just want one of your very own!

I want to snuggle with your brains!

But then you find out that they grow into THIS......!

Wombats are taking over your Couches!!

I love Wombats. Though you gotta wonder about who named the poor things. Were they drunk?

G - Genre

I’m curious. How did you pick the Genre in which you are writing? Or did it pick you? Which side of your brain makes this decision? The Creative side or the Logical side? Personally, I haven’t the foggiest. 

Do we as writers “write what we know”? And if so, how does that explain fantasy and science fiction? If we’re just writing what we know, IS it Fantasy and Science Fiction? Or is it just another version of a Truth, reworded for the general public to understand in a simpler manner so that when the machines Do take over we aren’t all that surprised?

    MAN I have to stop reading those science fiction novels.

   Right ...Genre. Focus.

This picture sparked the idea for the Control Room in my book

Personally, I tried several different ones before reaching the one I’m working in right now. First came Epic Historical (Think Ken Follett). Wow. Was that ever bad. Lots of hangings, women running away from priests, and horses getting stolen. Apparently that’s what happens in history. Then, I tried my hand at a mystery or two. Got very frustrated. Gave it up. May go back. Not sure. It’s a mystery. (HA!) 


Horror. This genre I liked, and in some respects am still working in. Though, I find Horror works best when blended with other Genres. Like Steampunk. The genre I’m working in now. It was somewhat of a revelation when I decided that my book would be Steampunk. There I was, all innocent, sitting there, trying to figure out HOW the hell I was going to get my MC from 2012 to 1922. And WHAM! H.G. Wells! The Time Machine! Oh so Victorian!

And there it was, staring me right in the face...and all the pieces that were missing tumbled like blocks.

Love it when a plan comes together ...and no blood is shed.  That I have to account for...