More Movement

June 21

Ever-shifting book news! Since the manuscript has now been typeset (except the intro and the afterword, anyway, and that'll take Sean about 19 seconds to do once they're written, I bet), and since we have cover art already, we've decided not to wait until early next year. We're shooting for publication around that most potent of dates... World Fantasy (sometime in October, in other words).

Yep. Both Flytrap and Little Gods will premiere in time for a convention that I can't really afford to attend! And while I'm perfectly content to enlist the help of ol' Mike Jasper as official Flytrap representative at World Fantasy (recompense to be paid in chicken wings and beer, at next year's Wiscon, I hope), I don't think I can get anyone to be a stand-in for me at the convention for the collection's premiere! But I'll have a book launch party here (so all y'all west coast people get ready to boogie in a few months), and the Flytrap party at Wiscon next year will be a Flytrap/Little Gods party.

Little Gods makes a great wintry-gift-giving-holiday gift!

The blurb quest continues. I sent out a few queries today, and so far one (rather big and very appropriate) writer is willing to read the manuscript. Quite heartening, especially as this is an author I've never even met, only corresponded with a bit. Whee!

***

I went to the CD store today, and got the new Radiohead, Hail to the Thief, which is quite good, as expected. I also got Tenacious D's album, which I've been meaning to pick up for a while. I almost got Liam Lynch's CD, but really, a single novelty-act disc is enough for one day, isn't it?

***

Heather and I went hiking today, at Redwood Park. Very dusty trail for a while, kind of depressing, actually (it reminded me of trudging along dirt roads in the summertime as a child), but then it got shady and began to follow the streambed, and we wound up sitting in a vast cathedral of redwoods, on a bench, in a cool, shadowed valley near the water. We sat together, talked, read, and generally enjoyed the quiet. The place is only about ten miles from our house, too. We don't take advantage of the local nature nearly enough.

***

So, here's our situation: We live with Heather's sister, Holly, and her baby. Holly and the baby have the smallest room in the house, and it's simply not enough space. None of us much like the neighborhood. For a while now, Holly has been looking for another single mother to share a different place with. She expects to be out of the house within the next couple of months. Heather and I have been dreading the thought of finding another housemate -- really, of course, we'd like to live alone, but we can't afford this place. We've been batting around the notion of moving out of state, but that doesn't seem like a good idea at the moment -- for one thing, we both have good jobs (I like mine very much; Heather likes many aspects of hers). So, after some debate, we're thinking of moving locally. We checked out places in our price range tonight -- and, wow, there are a lot of them, in nicer neighborhoods than this one. We're almost certainly going to wind up paying more per month for less space, but -- and this is the crucial bit -- we'd be living alone, just the two of us, which would be indescribably lovely. Holly is a perfectly pleasant housemate, but it's still difficult at times for Heather and I, sharing space with someone else. So tomorrow we're going to check out a few places. We might end up in an apartment rather than a house, which isn't ideal, but then again, it would be nice to live in a place with a usable bathtub and better lighting. We're also looking for a place where Heather can have a cat, something we both suspect would improve her outlook and reduce her stress. There are many things we like about living in the Bay Area, and we're beginning to suspect that a lot of the things we dislike about living here are tied to the house and neighborhood where we live. If we can go someplace quieter and closer to trees, even if it's only a few miles from our current address, we could stay here happily for a while yet. That's the current plan. Wish us luck.

Words written since February 1, 2003: 68,250

Words written since last entry:
700

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