It’s been a fruitful week. I’ve been maintaining my self-instituted pace of at least one sub a day, and I am almost out of old pieces that have never found a home, so it will soon be writing everyday as well.
Right now, I am finishing up an edit for one publisher and need to get back to one for the other. When those are done, I can focus on new materials.
I have also been writing a poem a day, but most of those are just for me–though I have submitted one of them, and I quite like another and will probably send it out soon.
I hope to soon have The Conn-Mann Chronicles available in this charming indie bookstore, Dragon’s Lair Artist Emporium, in Canada. The website looks amazing. (I’ve already ordered a tea tin.)
And, except for skipping a RieView last week because I couldn’t decide what to talk about, I’ve been keeping up with the blogs.
2021 is looking a whole lot better than 2020. (Though I will say this about last year–since my only sales were the Etsy bookmarks, and I remembered to write down my tax account info when I HAD to file online last year, I got my sales taxes in on time and they were under $10 without the $50 late penalty I usually have to pay…)
(Today’s guest post by my dear friend, Wyndie Deaver, shows that you don’t have to devote a huge amount of time to get visible results…)
I hate cleaning. It’s gotten worse since I moved in with Dad. Going from an apartment to one bedroom was bad enough. But all my teenage disdain for housekeeping returned, so I let stuff pile up and up and pray none of it topples over. The only problem with that is—Dad & his wife are unable to care for the house. My son is unable to follow more than 3 or 4 step instructions.
Which leaves me.
Moi.
To clean house.
I have always said I like tiny houses. What I mean by that is that I like apartments. If the plumbing breaks, someone else pays to fix it. It doesn’t take an hour and a half to clean the kitchen. Or living room. You get the idea. But I have allowed stuff to pile up so much in my room and the kitchen that it started to affect my mental health. I just can’t think straight in all the mess. But I hate cleaning. What’s a girl to do?
I pulled an egg timer out of the kitchen. This morning, I set it for 15 minutes and worked in the kitchen. In those 15 minutes, I swept and mopped the floors, cleaned off the kitchen table and scrubbed down the stove. The dishes had already been done. (I forgot to do pictures, though, I’m sorry!)
Later in the day, I set it again. This time for my dresser. A picture is worth a thousand words and here’s mine. I need a certain amount of clutter—but that is covered by the collage of cards and pictures around my mirror. The clutter on the surface? Not so much. The dresser is one of the last things I see before I go to bed and one of the first in the morning. It would be nice for it to be a little better. A lot better, actually, but I only want to invest 10-15 minutes at a time.
It made a huge difference. You can actually see the lace runner I have going across the dresser. There are clean, clear spaces. All in 15 minutes.
I chose the egg timer and the times specifically for the housework. It keeps me from feeling overwhelmed. Once the timer goes off, I’m done. I go do something else. I have a bad habit of once I start working on something, doing it until it’s done and my back has been thrown out. The timer frees me to stop working before I’ve hurt something, but also allows me to make an impact in the house.
Whether Alistair is too busy in his workshop or Jo decided they would have the rest of their Honeymoon Progress alone, I haven’t had any ideas for them in ages.
I even tried to write short stories for NaNoWriMo this year to prime the pump and get things going again. No luck.
I am still working on Fred’s book. Finally getting some specific feedback, and there appears to be a HUGE hole in the plot, so it’s still got a ways to go. It will be done…eventually. After all, it has a Brad Fraunfelter cover already done!
Still, I haven’t given up hope for more adventures in my favorite universe. There are plans. I just need Jo to cooperate!
In the meantime, here is the ONE piece I got finished in November. It is a look at that fateful first meeting from Alistair’s POV. Enjoy.
The Other Side of the Equation
“Is that you, Perfessor?”
“Yes, Ma. Sorry, I didn’t let you know, but I’ve already had something for lunch.”
“Oh?”
“Yes…it was the most peculiar thing. I believe I have hired a research assistant.”
“Good fer you! You work far too hard. It will do ya good t’ have someone to share the work.”
“I suppose so. I’m just not sure how it happened.”
“Well, sit down and tell me all about it. I am sure ya have room fer a spot of tea and a piece of pie.”
Alistair Conn pulled out his chair at the boarding house table and sank into it with a sigh. “Thank you, Ma. It has been a most unusual day.”
Ma Stark set a steaming cup of tea and a large slab of pie before him and then pulled out a chair across from him and sat down. “Tell me about it, dear.”
“I’ve been planning to hire someone for some time now, but I still hadn’t taken any steps to pursue it. Aunt Emily has been nudging me to get on with it, so I promised her to go to the newspaper and place an advertisement this morning.” Needing to collect his thoughts, Alistair took a large bite of the pie. It was his favorite–cherry. Ma spoiled her tenants so…
“Is the young gentleman going to need a place to stay?”
He swallowed hastily. “That’s just it…it isn’t a young gentleman. I seem to have hired a young lady for the position. She rather steamrolled me into it, but she seems to have a sharp wit and pleasant manner. I’m sure it will be fine.”
“A young lady? Alistair Conn–I didn’t know you had it in ya.”
He could feel the tips of his ears growing hot. “It isn’t anything like that at all, Ma. She just happened to be in the right place at the right time to intercept my advertisement. I don’t even know if she will prove satisfactory to the job. But she is most persuasive, I will give her that.”
“Well, tell me about her. What’s her name?”
“Josephine Mann. She’s a little thing…her head doesn’t quite reach my shoulder, and she’s got the most incredible hair–red as fire and tumbling down in a mass of curls…”
Ma cocked her head. “Interestin’ thing to notice.”
“Well, it is her most recognizable feature. And you might have occasion to see her going in and out of the place.”
“How did ya meet, exactly?”
“Well, I was stepping into Mr. Greenstreet’s office at the newspaper when she barreled into me, promptly landing herself on her posterior.”
“Oh my!”
“I was afraid she had hurt herself, but it soon became clear that wasn’t the case. I attempted to complete my business with Mr. Greenstreet, but she convinced me she would be a reasonable candidate for the position, so I agreed to give her a trial period.”
“When do you expect her?”
“Tomorrow morning, actually. I suppose I should do a bit of tidying up before she presents herself.”
“Do you think it is proper t’ have a young female around your premises unchaperoned? I know ya, but not everyone does.”
“It’s too late to do anything about it now. If she doesn’t suit, I am sure I can find some pretext for dismissing her.”
“Don’t you dare! At least not until ya give her a decent chance.”
“I promise to run the experiment to a natural conclusion, Ma. But I make no guarantees that I will continue to employ her past the week.”
“Just be patient. Don’t be hasty. It sounds like she really needs th’ job, and you really need someone to clear up some of that magpie’s nest of yours. I don’t see how ya find a thing in that mess.”
“You do have a point, Ma.” He finished the pie, washing it down with the tea. “Thank you for the refreshments. The pie was lovely. As I say, I expect her bright and early tomorrow.” He rose to his feet. “I gave her the address before we parted.”
“Did you tell her to look for you downstairs?”
He blinked in consternation. “No. I’m so used to dealing with people who know me that I completely forgot to mention it.”
“I’ll keep an ear out for the door in th’ morning and set her straight. Now, go on with ya. You’ve got a lot of work to do before morning. I’ve seen your laboratory.”
Alistair gave her a quick hug. “Yes, ma’am.”
Bounding down the front steps of the boarding house and those leading to his apartment below street level, he entered the laboratory with a light heart. Tomorrow would be the start of something very interesting. He was sure of it.
I just looked at the last post, and it was a guest post from September! I severely neglected everything for the final quarter of 2020, but I am back to work on all fronts and hopefully will be keeping up better now that the dumpster fire is on its way out.
That being said, I haven’t been doing a lot of horror stuff lately–hardly anything at all, but pushing more horror into the reality that was so gut-wrenching felt even worse. I did my Ladies of Horror pieces each month, but that was about it. If you are interested in seeing some of those, here’s a link.
Haven’t even watched a lot of horror since the news was bad enough, but I did start a re-watch of The Walking Dead to try and get back into it. I’ve stalled out for the moment in Season 7, which is close to when I stopped watching it before. I wonder if that’s a sign…
Still need to watch the last four episodes of Supernatural, but I’ve kinda been putting that off for the opposite reason. I don’t want to see the end of something I’ve loved.
We are keenly awaiting the final episodes of Lucifer (though IMDB listed a 6th Season…what’s THAT about?)
Oh, and for Halloween, we watched Hubie Halloween, which was…odd. I don’t know if I recommend it or not, but it was fun.
So, I guess I did do a few horror-related things while I was hibernating. See if you like any of them. 🙂
It wasn’t that nothing got done last year. I did get Strangers released for 13 O’Clock, and Forest of Bones (paid link) edited for Mocha Memoirs. Aside from that, pretty much nothing for the year.
I got my Ladies of Horror flashes done, and signed a contract with Dragon Moon Press to reprint four of my out-of-print books. Aside from that…not much.
I didn’t finish NaNoWriMo this year for the first time in at least five. I didn’t finish any Poetry Month challenges. I just didn’t.
Looking back at my submission records, I found it wasn’t only 2020 that was lacking. There wasn’t much submitted in 2019 either…but there was the trip to Ireland and the surgery, so there were a few mitigating circumstances.
Still, it won’t do THIS year. Things are needing to ramp up again. And, so far, they are on track. I have almost finished my first edit of the year for Mocha Memoirs. I have sold my first story of the year–and been paid for it–and I have submitted at least once a day so far.
I’ve been gone most of the fourth quarter. I just totally gave up on blogging and submitting and everything since September, but I decided to jump back in as soon as that train-wreck of a year was in the rear-view mirror.
But that is not to say that nothing happened around here. For those of you who are long time followers, there has been some pretty amazing progress!
Let’s take the nook off the bedroom. Do you guys remember when it looked like this?
And that wasn’t even at its worst.
Well, now, it is my husband’s new work from home office, and it looks like this:
We even got a steam cleaner for the carpet, and now there is actual floor in the bedroom:
As well as the area right outside the bedroom:
(still a work in progress)
We’ve also started using the Hello Fresh! meal program instead of ordering take out every night. Five meals a week to cook at home.
I’m really enjoying cooking for the first time.
It involves a lot of chopping:
And for that, I found that my prep space was far too limited with the kitchen in the shape it was so now:
Yeah, the floor is still a disaster, but I haven’t gotten that far.
I DID make my first enchiladas ever tonight:
And they were to die for!
I’ve never been good at cooking vegetarian, hence the eating out so much, but now I can’t wait for the next box to come tomorrow.
Next week we will have a guest post, but hopefully, the week after that I can show some progress at reclaiming my own office so I can work more efficiently.
My schedule is all off kilter these days, but in my sorting, I came across some notes from a class I took on Folk Tales, and I thought that they might be of interest to some of my readers. 🙂 This is all I have at the moment, so some of the details may be sketchy…
Folk Tales are stories told by human beings in the context of everyday life which usually have been handed down to the present storyteller.
These texts follow conventions of form and style and do not strive for originality. These fit well with everyday experience.
4 QuesTIONS FOLK TALES ARE STUDIED TO ANSWER:
History — genetics, birth, growth, adaptation
Form — syntax — “grammar” of tales
Meaning — What is the message of the tale?
Function — What purpose does the tale serve?
Two main aspects of tales: Textual and Conceptual
6 Points which stimulate questions; shared characteristics:
Folk tales are artistic behaviors
They tend to be formulaic
They adapt to fit context
They are products of social acts in natural context
They are intimately related to real live of inhabitants
They are usually employed in moments of celebration and/or disjunction
It’s been really hard to make myself stop cleaning (see Here’s the Clean for more on those adventures) and write these blog posts–as you may have noticed. But they really are a lot alike.
When you are editing, you do a lot of pruning. A word here, a word there–a rearranging of sentences–a removal of a scene that isn’t working.
When you are sorting through boxes, you do a lot of the same. Is this memory worth saving that piece of paper? Do you remember who is in that picture? Is that snippet of writing something that can be expanded into a short story or novel or something else?
I have actually found a lot of bits of writing that I am very excited to rediscover. I have been working on a novel for over twenty-five years. I just can’t seem to get it right. One of the things I found in a box was the first full draft of that novel. I can’t wait to re-read it and see what my original plan was for the story. I think it might help me to get the train back on the track…
I also found a long Ladyhawkefan fiction story I thought was lost to the ether. That story was one of the things that taught me how to write description, and was one of the longest pieces before I actually finished a novel. It was one of the things that gave me the self-confidence to write novel length in the first place. (And I think it is one of my strongest bits of writing ever…that almost no one has ever seen. And I might be able to remedy that now.)
I’ve got a lot more boxes to unpack. I can’t wait to see what else I find–between bouts of editing the next Horrified anthology I am working on. And getting ready for November. 😉
Well, it looks worse than it is. I know I have to spend a lot of time to get it back in shape, but the reason it’s back to this state is because that is what I am keeping out of the four boxes I sorted through this week. It was a real trip down memory lane. Some of those boxes haven’t been touched since we moved into the house together in 2003. And some of them came packed from the storage unit I had before that.
And there is this:
The carpet is a mess…but at least I can see it. We are seeing progress. And that is a good thing. More steps to go, but its a long journey and I can see cleared space behind me. 😉
…but that was because I was doing a lot of things at once.
I have the Strangers anthology off to the publisher for formatting. I have started the edit of X 6 which is the next Horrified anthology.
I have also been going through boxes that have been packed since I moved in with my husband almost twenty years ago. I realized I didn’t need those notes from Chinese class in 1996. I didn’t need the Certificate of finishing a training class in 1995. I didn’t need the outdated marketing materials from when I started in 2000. Those things were tossed.
On the other hand, the correspondence I had with Lis Sladen when I was doing a Sarah Jane Smith fanzine and a fan club for her I am keeping, even if some of the pages have gotten damaged over time. They are irreplaceable. I put them in an envelope which should add more protection and make them easier to identify.
Breaking down all those old boxes is very satisfying. 🙂
I am getting a lot done, but the writing isn’t moving as quickly. Hopefully this will even out soon. After all, November is coming. 😉
Rie Sheridan Rose 