Pompoms raised high!

Sale! And it’s a sweet one! My story “If the Shoe Fits” will appear in the DAW Books fantasy anthology The Trouble With Heroes!

Commence the pompom waving!

Free! Spontaneous contestnessing!

I have an extra copy of the March 2008 Romantic Times Bookreviews. I'll give it to the first person who responds in the comments saying something nice about one of my novels or stories.

If the person posts a review of one of my novels to amazon.com, powells.com, B&N.com, etc., I'll put together a goodie package with more than just the magazine.

Onetwothree...go!

Why I <3 Nora

I love Nora Roberts so much. Not only is she an amazing writer and an amazing professional, but she’s snortingly funny (and I’ve heard she’s hilarious to party with). Smart Bitches, Trashy Books posted a note about an Australian “write the beginning of a bodice ripper” contest to win a “pamper hamper.” The contest is about twenty levels of offensive, starting with the fact that “bodice ripper” is a derogatory term for romances and doesn’t have anything to do with Mills & Boon (category) romance anyway.

First person to comment on the Smart Bitches site? Nora herself. With her “entry.” And it’s fabulously awful, and I love her for it. She doesn’t comment there a lot, but every time she does, it’s snarky and funny and witty and smart.

You know, at RWA last year I was at a party that Nora was at (thank you again, Phaedra, for letting me be your date!), and I was too scared to go up and talk to her. Seriously, every time I saw her at the conference, I practically ducked my head, my brain hissing “Eek, it’s Nora! No, don’t look! Did she see me?”

Dudes, I can flirt shamelessly with my favorite rock star, but I can’t talk to a fellow author?! The same thing happened when I met Guy Gavriel Kay. I was going to leave the convention without talking to him. I went to the bathroom before we left the hotel, looked in the mirror, and realized that if I didn’t talk to him, I’d regret it for the rest of my life. So then I had to have a drink to screw up my courage. And I bought him a drink, because in his speech earlier he’d said the price of a question was a shot of single malt. I handed it to him, and he put it next to the other two next to his chair…and proceeded to chat with me (in a small group of people) for several hours. Seriously. A totally nice guy, and I'd been terrified.

The only thing I can figure is that with rock stars and actors and whoever awe me on a particular level (or maybe two: awe of talent and desperate desire to shag), there’s an added thing with writers (er, and a subtracted thing: generally not desperate to shag. No offense to any writers out there.): professional awe. I don’t just respect their work, I want to be them. I want to mind-meld with them and share their knowledge and talent. I want that respect back, maybe not to the same degree, but a level of “I’m not just a fan, I’m a fellow writer.”

Anybody else out there with a similar reaction? Musician friends: Do you have this with other musicians? Etc?

Death by locomotive

Rejection from Triangulations for “The Rising,” addressed to “Mr. Dermatis” (sigh) and making it apparent he didn’t read much of the story because he referred to one character’s “failed relationship,” and it wasn’t a failed relationship at all. Hey, it didn’t grab his interest. S’okay. I’ve already turned it back around to ASIM, and also subbed Breakfast in Bed to Scarlet, since they liked “Flash!” but thought it took too long to get to the sexy bits, and I feel that I’d lose character development if I cut it too much.

In other news, my massage therapist cancelled on me again because of craziness at her day job. (My e-mailed response: ::wails, throws self in front of train”::). Sigh. But Ken and I had a scrummy dinner of stuffed pork chops and squash (both from TJ’s) and watched New Amsterdam before repairing back upstairs to poke at computer things (and I also went back downstairs to my writing office and moved ahead on a short story I need to finish ASAP).

I also received my first birthday card of my birthday season! ::happy dance:: Albra wins the prize this year. She just gave Ken his astrological chart reading that she promised him one or two birthdays ago, and I strongly hinted that I wanted that for my birthday, so the card is my promissory.

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So many good things to read! I’m still enjoying Magic Study (although I’ve forgotten enough about Poison Study that I’m surprised by things I oughtn’t be), plus I got a Robert B. Parker and three YA books from the library when we walked there the other day. This is in addition to the magazines that litter the house and the brimming TBR bookshelf. And it doesn’t include the four books I need to read (and write proposals on) for my workshop in May (three of the books have been ordered; I’m hoping to find the fourth at Bart’s).

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Currently Reading: Magic Study, Maria V. Snyder
Lately Listened To: Lawrence Gowan Radio Special
Recently Watched: New Amsterdam, If Walls Could Talk

Eostre's Day!

Happy Eostre's Day! Nine years ago on Easter Sunday, a bedraggled, starving, pathetic white cat ducked under our car to escape the Welsh rain. Today she's our sweet, beloved, precious girl. Oh yeah, she knew exactly what she was doing when she chose us.

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Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf has a new Ultimate Ice-Blended Mocha made with chocolate-covered espresso beans. Holy crap, that’s good! Even if I’ve already managed to drip some on my white shirt!

So I’m here with Ellenie, trying to write, and it’s goooing verrrry slooooowly (despite the caffeine). Meh.

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We had a lovely, lovely time at The Huntington Library yesterday. It’s a little early for most of the roses, but they have a big museum display going on right now about the history of roses. We were most impressed with the early herbal and rose manuscripts; as we worked forward through history, there was less to excite us. The first and last rooms had troughs of rose petals to sniff, and in the last room, Morgana and I simultaneously leaned in, buried our faces in the petals, inhaled loudly, and then stood, moaning with delight. The docent thought that was quite funny.

We also went into the greenhouse, which none of had done before, which has rainforest and cloud forest and bog rooms. They had carnivorous plants! which made me jump up and down and squeal with excitement. I love me some carnivorous plants!

Tea was fantastic as usual. One of the sandwiches was cream cheese and watercress, but there was a hint of horseradish mixed with the cream cheese. Not enough to cause a bite (although I wouldn’t have minded that); just enough for flavor. Awesome.

We spent a bit of time in the herb garden and then wandered under the wisteria-draped arbor and down to the Japanese garden. Then it was a wander down another path, hand in hand with my beloved, to the new Chinese gardens. We stopped in the Pavilion for Washing Away Thoughts (Di Lü Ting), and I could’ve sat there for hours, just listening to the brook rushing by. It’s a sound I just never hear enough anymore. I haven’t felt so relaxed and connected in…well, far too long.

The only downside to the day that it was in the mid 80s, so we were hot and sweaty and tired by the end of it. (We’d brought lots of water with us, as well as hats and parasols, which helped.)

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Inspired by the babbling brook from yesterday, we finally set up our fountain (a beautiful pale green one that Ken bought in Korea many years ago) in my writing office. Mmmm…

Speaking of writing (did you like that little segue there, huh?)…

• Thursday or Friday I received a rejection from Asimov’s for “Love Makes the Universe Go ‘Round.” I knew it was a long shot, oh well! I’ve already turned it around to Strange Horizons.
  
• Just now came a rejection from Black Gate for “Dreamseer”—one of their glowing “this is fabulous, but alas no” rejections that always leave me so conflicted!

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Currently Reading: Magic Study, Maria V. Snyder
Lately Listened To: I heard “Renegade” on the radio!  ::rocks out::
Recently Watched: The Riches, Neat