Introducing...

August 7

"Like Orpheus, Tim plumbs the dark depths, seeking to retrieve the beloved, transformed. But in Tim's case the beloved isn't a wife, an individual, a single thing. The beloved are those old, old templates of our souls, the archetypes that guide us: the god of choice at the crossroads; the witch; the stolen magical child; the ideal of the superhero; neglected and abandoned deities; the too-clever thief, and, of course, Orpheus himself. Archetypes too often ignored and then lost. Tim's gift is to climb with them out of the abyss of the forgotten, bringing them back into the light and back to life. Who else but a child raised himself in mythos could spin for you these tales of evil bicycles, the sacrifices of broken-hearted monsters, owl dinners, metamorphing secret agents, and a little goddess of cinnamon and brown sugar?" --Michaela Roesnner, from her introduction to Little Gods.

Isn't that just the nicest thing?

***

Rangergirl revisions proceed. I did another 1700 words of the new scenes over these past two nights. It's humming along nicely. I might finish all the big rewriting this weekend, and next week I can smooth down the rough edges and send it off. I may be inviting volcanoes and thunderbolts by saying this, but it's easier and more fun than I'd expected it to be.

***

So my boss is off to Writers of the Future, where he gives a lecture most years. He used to give more-or-less the same lecture every year, but then he lost the computer file in one of our many upgrades, so he had to write a new one. He asked me to write some notes on things to say to new writers. I was rather intimidated by the task at first -- how do I know what to say to new writers? I am one! But once I started thinking, and typing, I came up with a lot. None of it earth-shaking, just the stuff I wish people had told me when I was starting out, things that used to be obscure that are now obvious, things I've learned at A Certain Magazine, etc. Today my boss told me that it's too coherent for him to steal outright, or even to file the serial numbers off of, so he's going to deliver it pretty much as written, and give me credit. That's kind of cool. In the introduction to his lecture, he even calls me a "pretty good writer," which is high praise from him.

Speaking of WotF, I read Jay Lake's story in The Third Alternative today, "All Your Heroes Are Bastards", and it's damn good, as one would expect. (Jay was a first-prize winner in WotF, if you're wondering what the connection is). I read it in the copy we got at work, but it reminded me that I've been meaning to subscribe to TTA, so I did that tonight. I'd love to sell them something. Their layout rocks.

***

Obligatory cat update: Zanzibar went to the vet again, and now he has three different medicines, including an ointment we have to spread on his eye. On his very eye. He's totally calm about it, too, which makes it even harder, somehow -- he's such a good kitten, we hate smearing stuff on his eye and shoving pills down his throat. Heather does all the invasive bits -- I just hold him, and try to soothe him.

***

Heather finished the draft of her new story, "Single White Farmhouse", last night, and it's great stuff, one of her best, funny and surreal and written with great deftness and assurance. I gave her some comments and suggestions, and she revised away like mad tonight. This is the story she's doing for the upcoming Strange Horizons/Polyphony workshop, so she's trying to get it in the best possible shape soon. I really dig it. Hope her fellow workshoppers do, too, especially since fiction editors from two magazines (at least) are going to be there!

***

World Fantasy Award nominees have been announced. I'll do my picks/best guesses sometime soon. But congrats go to all the many fine cool people on the ballot, notably my editor Sean Wallace of Prime, and the darling Terri Windling, who blurbed my book so nicely!

***

I made a Little Gods page. Cover mock-up, contents, etc. Rather bare, now, but I'll keep working on it.

Words written since February 1, 2003: 79,900

Words written since last entry:
1,700

Flytrap! Sure, we could use some extra money, if you want to help out. Maybe we could even do a color cover!