Mummy Dust

June 24

Tuesday already. Practically Wednesday. Oof.

We've looked at a couple of other apartments, one yesterday, one today. The one yesterday was nice and spacious, but right on a busy street, louder than the place we live now (if we'd known it was on that street, we wouldn't have made an appointment to look at it, but their listing was (we suppose deliberately) vague about precise location). The one today was charming, and tree-shaded, and had strangely-shaped rooms (a plus, for us -- we don't want to live in a crackerbox), but it's a bit on the small side. It would definitely be cramped. It also has one of those old little stoves with the tiny oven that couldn't even fit a good-sized frozen pizza. So we're hesitant about that one.

Especially since there are little in-law cottages and cute duplexes we're waiting to hear about...

***

Alas, the steely boot of small press publishing failure has stomped another victim. 3F publications was slated to do two horror anthologies -- Fresh Blood and Lingering Dementia -- and they both just got canceled. One had a full table of contents already (though there were no contracts sent out yet, just informal acceptances -- I had a story, "Stray", in there) and the other had a shortlist shaping up. Now they are both so much mummy dust in the wind. Ah, well. So it goes. I feel bad for the editor, Marc Sanchez -- he's worked his ass off. I hope he finds another editing gig soon.

***

Last night Heather and I did laundry, which was about as exciting as you'd expect. But -- more exciting -- I got more detailed notes yesterday about Rangergirl from the agent-in-potentia. It's basically what we talked about on the phone, with a bit more specific suggestions. My big task for the week is to dive into revising. I'm trying to cut the manuscript down by 10 or 20 thousand words (it's a bit flabby), and that should be easily doable, given the changes I want to make. And, with luck, the finished project will be something the agent-in-potentia thinks she can sell...

I had lunch with Sean Klein today (he was in Oakland for work, and we met in Montclair). Nice talk, and in telling him about my recent goings-on, I realized a) how well things are going and b) how insanely busy I am.

I am behind on almost everything. I haven't touched the Frog novel in weeks, and I miss it. I haven't written my reviews for the August issue yet (they're already overdue). I have to revise Rangergirl, as I said. I'm behind on reading Star*Line slush, and on sending out contributor copies. I didn't find time to pay Flytrap contributors this weekend, as I'd hoped (that's not actually late though, as we ostensibly pay on publication; I just plan to pay them early, as a treat). I have short stories to revise (at the moment, I only have 8 stories in circulation! There are 3 more pending revision!). Heather and I registered www.tropismpress.com, and we'd like to get that up and running at some point. I'm working on the Afterword for Little Gods. I also have lots of little things to do -- writing a bio/story intro for my Featured Author dealie over at Ideomancer, making some tweaks to my Exquisite Corpuscle poem, answering assorted e-mails, doing some long-overdue critiques. I'm collaborating (quite pleasantly) with Greg. Then, of course, there's finding a new place to live, which is time consuming, even with Heather doing most of the heavy lifting.

And yet... I'm happy! Not stressed! I'm sleeping soundly! I have a million things to do, but somehow, I'm just excited about all of them! And, though the occasional deadline with whoosh past me, I think I'll get it all done, and done well.

This is exactly what I want to do with my life.

Except for the apartment hunting. But even that's fun.

Words written since February 1, 2003: 68,250

Words written since last entry:
Well, none, but, I mean, I've been organizing myself, yo.

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