Madmen, Mudwomen, Dirty Refrigerators, and Other Lovely Things

August 18

Whoop! T-minus 44 minutes to mine and Heather's date. Let's see if I can get an entry up before it's time for me to get dressed and leave...

I woke this morning to good news-- an acceptance from Strange Horizons for my poem "Orpheus Among the Cabbages." This is one of my favorite poems, and it's new (I wrote it in June, after looking at Heather's Waterhouse painting, "Nymphs Finding the Head of Orpheus"). It's a good funny poem. Y'all will like it. It's coming out in October.

I may have another acceptance as well; one of the poetry editors at SH runs a print literary 'zine, and she's expressed an interest in buying one of the other poems I submitted. That's not nailed-down yet, though, so I'll hold back on details...

I got good mail this week, but now I have lots to read. Scott sent all my mail from Santa Cruz, which included two HWA newsletters and a copy of Star*Line (I should really send them more work, too-- I'm so slack about submitting poetry). I still haven't read the last issue of Speculations, and I should read a horror novel by an (online) friend of mine who wants a blurb... I honestly don't know if I'll be able to read it in time, though.

Marissa came up this morning. We had yummy coffee drinks at Gaylord's, sitting at a Ms. Pac Man table. We talked about our books! Madmen and Mudwomen! We're both very excited and bouncy and gleeful and proud of ourselves. We took a walk to the good sandwich place, chatting about our lives, basically catching one another up on all the interesting stuff going on. It was a lovely time.

I came home to find sexy sweet Heather making brownies (which are sweet, but not sexy). We cleaned out the fridge, which was one of the big tasks we'd been putting off. The old housemates left behind all their stuff, and the fridge was literally so full of expired crap that there was no room to put in a pitcher of iced tea. But now the fridge is much more sparse, containing only our stuff (since the Absent Housemate keeps virtually no groceries here), and it's been all wiped-down.

Best New Crack: Bengal Spice tea. It's creamy, even without the addition of Soy-Moo. But it's not caffeinated, alas...

Reading. So much reading. I'm reading Buddy Holly by Brad Denton and Powers's Forsake the Sky, in addition to various things about the old West, occasional fairy tales, short stories online. I'm snatching moments at work to read the proof of the new Terry Pratchett (which is an illustrated short novel, The Last Hero), and Newman's The Night Mayor). I'm supposed to read Nalo's Midnight Robber this weekend, so that I can read Heather's article about it that's appearing in next week's Strange Horizons.

I'm a very happy, very busy boy.

I don't even want to think about my poetry slush pile... I should get into that next week...

So. Tonight Heather and I are doing dinner-and-a-movie-and-a-vigorous-shag. This is so very nice. What a good day. Acceptances, lunch with M'ris, and a night of full-out fun with my lover-dear. Mmm. Happiness, thy name is Tim.