An Ongoing, Erratic Diary

Hey, guys. Sorry for the long delay; I hope you caught the long, rambly addition to last Thursday's entry. Here are some updates:

Health

I'm sick. :-( I was feeling so ill in class Monday night that I had to get up partway through, hide in the bathroom for a bit, and then lie down, scrunched up, on this little bench in the hallway. Didn't want to throw-up in class -- someone might take it as a reflection on their story. I did manage to go in and teach Tuesday, but I let both classes out early (sent them to the library to do research), and I didn't go to post-co. Came home and vegged like crazy. Ate leftover curry. Read the next Kaje Baker time travel book (good). Watched tv. Had chicken soup. Slept. Today is somewhat better, but I'm still taking it very easy. Meeting with students, and I'll probably make it out to the grocery store, but otherwise I'm not feeling obligated to do any work at all. Tomorrow is a school holiday (fall break) so I have some nice time to recover and then catch up on work.

The Magazines

CS has started its staff month, and it's doing spiffy! Susannah has added a fiction serial and a new exotica section, which are both pretty darn cool. I love the anniversary staff month; it's so much fun seeing what everyone on the staff can do when you let them cut loose. :-) There's been a little tension in the transition period, but you know what? It's not my problem anymore, which is a huge relief. I advise only, thank you very much.

SH is going spiffy as well. Look, we have new ads that Blue made up!

Cute, huh? Like the magazine? Got someplace on the web where you can stick a banner? Please do!

We actually moved stuff to the archives for the first time with this issue (our fifth week), which makes it all feel a bit more real. There's a great interview with Catherine Asaro (who manages to combine physics and romance to make excellent books), and a Japanese WWII vampire story that has an illustration by Wolf Read that I just love. Which actually leads into a little project I wanted to mention...

The Kids' Book

You guys remember the kids' story I wrote, "A Poet's Journey"? Well, I think I'm going to try doing a limited edition run of it myself -- maybe 250 copies or so, signed and numbered. Wolf is interested in possibly doing the artwork -- he's looking at the story now to see if he can. I'm hoping to coax him into some b/w interior illustrations and maybe a color cover. I think this would be a very cool project, and one where I wouldn't try to make a profit -- just make some Christmas presents for family and make back my costs by selling some here. I'll let you know more as it happens. On a similar, but more adult, note:

The CD

You remember all my babble about a CD, yes? Well, I actually recorded it and burned a master last weekend at Kev's. It's not studio quality, of course, but I think it's generally listenable (though I wish I had a way to edit out the little puffing sounds at the beginnings of p's and such -- I'm just not skilled enough). It's more of a romantic compilation than a smutty one -- lots of love poems, and three stories - "Feather", "Johnny's Story", and "Esthely Blue". But it's not PG-rated either. So I don't know if any of you are interested, but if you are, I'm hoping to have that one done by early December. A lovely gift, yes? Again, a limited edition run, signed and numbered, cover art by Blue Torres (who did the design for Strange Horizons), reasonably priced. More details later.

The Visit

I really had a lovely time, despite getting sick. Arrived Thursday to yummy snuggling with Kev. We went out for a bit to the new cafe (open 'til 3) next door, then came home. Quiet eve. Then Friday I ran around campus a bit, doing various errands and some research. Also did some reading. Roshani came down around 3, and we went grocery shopping and then cooked a delicious Thai dinner; she made some great soup, and I made a red beef curry and green beans fried in red curry paste and garlic (yum!). Very pleasant eating with Kevin and her Thomas.

The next day, I was supposedly doing reading, but Kevin wasn't feeling well, and we really spent most of the day first watching football and then the Olympics. Our friend Todd came over for the football, then headed off to his girlfriend's around dinner time. We meant to go to a nice French restaurant -- we even made reservations -- but I could tell Kev wasn't feeling up to it really, so we stayed in and I made us grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup instead. Really pleasant just watching tv with his head on my lap; it felt appallingly domestic, but in a good way. :-)

Sunday I took the train up to Roshani's for her baby shower; the food was excellent, and a good time was had by all. In the evening, Kevin helped me set up computer stuff and I spent several hours working on the CD. Tiring, but very satisfying to finish it. And then Monday morning, he went off to teach and Todd gave me a lift to the airport, which was also nice. An excellent visit all around -- I have no complaints.

The New Book

So I redid the BIE (Best Internet Erotica) proposal like Bob wanted, and when I talked to him yesterday, he said that the proposal looks good. Now he's going to discuss it with his higher-ups, so it may be a few weeks before he gets back to me. Fingers crossed and hoping. It looks like if it happens, the schedule will flexible, so that I can do the bulk of the work in early summer, which would be excellent. If that's true, then I may not teach next summer; I may just do the book in the first half and then possibly go take a class or wander around or leave the country or something. We'll see.

Other Bits and Bobs

That's pretty much it for updates, so I'll just make two more quick notes. Heather said recently in her journal that "the same themes keep cropping up in my (small) body of work" -- and she said this like it was a problem. So I'll just repeat what my professor said to me a few weeks ago, when I said that I was worried that I was getting into a rut (with all this preoccuption with sex and marriage and babies and culture clashes in my stories...) -- "It's not a rut, it's an obssession. And if you work that right, it'll become a motif!"

So that's the way to think of it, Heather -- you're developing recurrent motifs.

And finally, I recently took a rather silly Medieval Job Placement Test. This is what it told me:

"Your distinct personality, The Prime Minister, might be found in most of the thriving kingdoms of the time. You are a strategist who pursues the most efficient and logical path toward the realization of the goal that you perceive or visualize. You will often only associate with those people who can assist you in the implementation of your plan. Inept assistants may be immediately discarded as excess baggage. To do otherwise could be seen as inefficient and illogical. On the positive side, you can be rationally idealistic and analytically ideological. You can be a bold decision maker and risk taker who can move society ahead by years instead of minutes. On the negative side, you may be unmerciful, impatient, arrogant, impetuous and impulsive. Interestingly, your preference is just as applicable in today's corporate kingdoms."

Hmmm....

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