Singular, Curious

December 29

Mmm. We bought a cheap but very yummy Merlot last week, and Heather and I just drank it a bit ago, so I'm afloat on a pleasant reddish sea, now. Wine takes me away from the harsh realities of peasant life.

Writing news first: I wrote 8,000 words yesterday and finished my fish story, which is called "Bottom Feeding" until/unless I come up with a better title. I actually threw away all the pages of this story I'd written previously, because they weren't any good -- they had no heart, no resonance, they were just (rather whiny) recitations of events. So I changed it from first-person to third-person (creating much more sympathy for the main character, oddly enough; whenever he talked I just wanted to slap him, but I like him now that I'm listening to his thoughts instead of his voice), and told it in a non-linear fashion, and basically made it much cooler and more effective. I think it's a very solid draft, too, with no serious structural defects. I think it's one of the better things I've written all year. So, la!

Today I wrote about 1,100 words, a review of Cory Doctorow's first novel called "A Singular Debut: Cory Doctorow's Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom." Singular, on account of it being a post-singularity novel, you see.

I know puns are the lowest form of humor, but sometimes, it's hard to resist.

Anyway, I sent the review off, and we'll see if the editor likes it, and if so, I'll tell you where/when it's appearing, and so on.

Also had a short-short called "Encounter on a Back Street" accepted by Brian Keene at Horrorfind, so, whoo! It's a Marla story, so you guys can finally read something about this character! She's the protagonist of the next novel I'm working on, and the main character of two of the best stories I've never sold...

Finally, my "The Scent of Copper Pennies" should be online at Far Sector soon (possibly even now!). It's one of my favorites, the one Susan called my "quantum physics voodoo love story."

Otherwise, since Xmas... I finished that Year End report, made it a couple of hundred words longer. Went to work on Thursday and Friday, natch, neither of which was a terribly stressful day, just starting work on the February issue. Hung out at home all day yesterday, because it was raining dreadfully outside, and mostly I worked on that short story, with occasional breaks to read and hang out with Heather. Today we walked up to Piedmont Ave., browsed as usual in various stores, bought coffee for the next couple of weeks, had sammitches for lunch. We bought a nice frog calendar for the kitchen, and for my room I got a neat calendar of illustrations from Albertus Seba's "Cabinet of Curiosities" -- he was a 17th-century pharmacist and collector of oddities, and late in life he commissioned artists to illustrate all the specimens in his collection (which, judging by the pictures, included some mythical beasts), so there are nice bestiary-esque pictures of snakes, elephant fetuses, coral, puffer fish, siamese-twin goats, squid, armadillos, snakes, seven-headed dragons of the apocalypse, etc.

It's been a pleasant week-between, that strange period between Xmas and New Year's when everything seems faintly unreal... I have to work tomorrow, and a half-day Tuesday, and then it's time for New Year's festivities, whoo!

Finally, I've been meaning to thank all the people who've congratulated us in their journals on our engagement, and said nice things about our chapbook (Floodwater, available for sale now!): so, thank you, guys. It's appreciated.

Words written since February 1, 2002: 204,600

Words written since last entry:
9,300

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