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!

Writers and Superstitions

As the  anticipated day approcheth I was wondering...do writers, of which I am a fairly novice newbee one, have superstitious rituals they go through? Things that they feel might possibly give their story that certain...edge...over another story.

I don't know. I'm fairly sure writers, as a whole, are creatures of habit. We like to write at specific times. Be it morning, or night. Preferably all day if you are (luckily) able to! We like to have our writing "areas" set up in specific ways. The dictionary here, the pens there, twizzlers piled up there.

But Superstitious? Do we have little shrines set up in a corner of our desks where we burn a bit of incense every time we hit 'send'?  Do we cross ourselves three times and run around the room clockwise, naked, chanting in tongues?

Or is the obsessive checking of our e-mail. "If I only check it THREE times a day...and he hasn't replied by Thursday by Noon, NO, by FOUR...that's a good sign!" Is this our own brand of superstition?

I'm crossing into the "Zen" stage of waiting. I'm lucky though. I know the end date. And I know that either way, ToC or not, I will get a response. And, honestly, if I don't make it in...it's been such an interesting experience, I can't wait to find another "Call to Arms"!

Not to say I didn't make the proper sacrifices to the four elements....

Bio of Mono

Inciting Incident: It was dark. The twin size bed creaked as they both leaned in, closer. The music of Nine Inch Nails making their hearts race. Their lips met and the searing fire devoured them both.

In a plague of Mono.

Story Worthy Problem (Hollywood Style): She had to abandon her life long dream of becoming a chef due to the length of her illness. When she finally recovers, four years later, she is so consumed with rage over the loss of her career that she sets out to hunt down all the boys she kissed in college. One by one. Infecting them with incurable diseases. Like eczema! Or food poisoning! Or celiac disease!!

She is Avenged.

What really happened.

I kissed some guy in college. Who doesn't! (Well...maybe lesbians don't...) He gave me mono. LAME! Problem was I was so burned out from the intense program I was in I got crazy sick from it...Had to drop out of culinary for four years, though I did go back and finish. By the time I got better the virus had settled in my joints. I now have arthritis in my hands. Thanks random guy in college!

Today, my hands feel like shards of glass held together with rusty staples.

But wouldn't it be cool if we could live our lives like Hollywood?!

Summer Days and Wine

I had this really good wine last night.

It wasn't amazing or life changing or anything. But it was really good. One thing I truly enjoyed about it was that it was a red and it didn't make me stuff up and go running for the allergy meds. YAY! This has been happening lately, not sure why. Doesn't seem to have much bearing on the sulfide content, so who knows.

It was good to enjoy a wine. Really breathe it in. Taste the cherry, and raspberry (of which there seemed to be a bit). It was a surprising wine. Most Cabernet Sauvignon's aren't so fruity. They generally have a more, well, dusty, or tobacco-y flavor to them. Something more earthy. This one felt brighter. Less from the Dark Side, if you will.

I also enjoyed the label.

Now, most wineries are being very clever with their labels and naming their wines and wineries. Makes it rather fun to go get a decent bottle of wine and plunk it down on your table and have a giggle about the name. But this one was made me snort. Because you could tell they'd kinda had it up to 'here' with the snobbery that maybe they've had to put up with in their industry. Maybe they're biting their thumbs a bit at some people...possibly? I'd like to think so.

It's a very clever label.

Get it?  Get it?! HA!

They KNOW that people really know nothing about picking wine out and that the best you can do is an educated guess...! Love it.

Now...I could go on and draw all sorts of connections to my writing and how I'm just making educated guesses with that as well. But...well. A) I'm out of time, gotta get to work! And B) WAY too easy...

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....

New Challenges

DL Hammons over at Cruising Altitude 2.0 is going to be running his WRiTE CLUB again!

To that I say...sweeeet.

I'm in! And it looks like it is going to be one Massive Competition...so Head over and Claim your spot on the ropes! Seriously. When I signed up earlier today I was number 89 on the linky list! whoa...

Check out the Rules and Regs and Challenge yourself! Huge opportunity for quality feedback. And who doesn't love a writing challenge?

Must talk about WRiTE CLUB!