Day in the Life of an Idiot

Our washing machine broke a few days ago--almost two weeks ago, actually--and we bought one at Warner's Stellian. In preparation of delivery day, we've been doing a ton of work to make sure the delivery people had a clear path into the basement. I mean, I have a LOT of sympathy for these guys. It's been so hot. Our stairs into the house are steep; the stairs to the basement are worse.

BUT.

They scratched the front of it bringing it in.

And, worst of all, they left with out leveling it.

We bought one of the high efficiency washing machines and they spin a great speeds. It's clearly listed as part of the installation process and, while this is close, this is not quite level.


Image: bubble sitting just shy of level.

Does this matter this much? I'm not sure, but my wife would sure like that bubble to be sitting exactly level... and I'm not sure she's wrong?

Anyway, once again I am not telling you all what I am reading despite the fact that it is Wednesday. This time, at least, I am not telling you because I'm deeply embarrassed by the fact that I went down a yaoi smut rabbit hole (as it WERE) and if you really want to read about it, you can check out my manga review site: mangakast.wordpress.com



Anyway, how are you all? It's been forever! Tell me about your life!

 On Sunday, I got an email containing the copy-edits of Unjust Cause from Wizard Tower Press.

I'm not very far along yet, but I have stetted a number of things that are a matter narrative voice and/or of personal choice. I mean, the copy editor had crossed out "pennies" and written in "loose change." There's actually no need to change what I wrote, and mine is more specific, so... back to pennies, it is. I can see why, in that particular moment, the copy editor might have felt that loose change was more accurate since the earlier scene involves a number of coins that are not pennies. I don't care. I like the sound of the phrase "a rain of pennies" more than "a rain of loose change" and I am the author, so I get final say.

But, I mean, if that's my biggest complaint? It's so much better than the time that one of Penguin's copy editors didn't seem to understand what "Spidey Sense" was. 

Anyone who reads my journal regularly, however, knows how much I, in particular, need a copy editor. So, I might complain, but gods bless anyone who catches all my typos and fixes my overuse of commas.

I'm not sure if I talked about this here yet, but I also have had a conversation with the artist who will be designing my cover. I had to provide something called "an artist's brief" which I have never had to do before in my life, so I just made it into a chatty discussion of what the book is about with images of South Dakota and the kinds of stone eagles that buildings in the US have (since I wasn't sure if my artist was from the UK or not, since my publisher is... )  So, I'm looking forward to seeing that. I will say that I'm probably less picky about my covers than I am about copy edits since I have had some TERRIBLE covers in the past from Penguin.

No one should ever forget noodle appendage lady on the cover of Honeymoon of the Dead.

So, that's what I'll be working on today, I imagine. 

Otherwise, I don't know. I've been feeling kind of low-energy/borderline sad the last few days and I think it's just my body realizing that spring is coming... but isn't quite here yet.  I'm not sure. We are thinking of painting the kitchen finally, so that's a fun project to look forward to... like I said, part of it is a kind of underlying feeling of restlessness to get STARTED on spring things, while knowing I simply have to wait at least until the snow is gone.

I was supposed to go over to a friend's house for anime viewing tonight, but I had to cancel. Mason has some kind of farewell to the Robotics seniors at Washington tonight and he asked me to play taxi. Normally, I'd ask him to make his way by train or bus, but it's a bit of a hassle to get from his work (the Science Museum) to Washington and the longer he's in transit the less of the party he can attend. At the point, I might as well stay home to fetch him when he's done, too, so he can stay longer.

Otherwise, it's been a much slower week than last week, that's for sure! And maybe this is the other reason I feel so quick to cancel tonight. I could use the down time to just stare at the wall.

We're two weeks out for our trip to Michigan and Indiana. I need to spend some time (maybe tonight, now that it's free) plotting out our course in order to hit the most roadside attractions as possible. We're also entertaining taking the "slow boat" home, too, rather than just doing our usual fast push through Illinois and Wisconsin. This will probably end up being the big road trip the family will take this year. Mason has been making noises about wanting to do a big trip to California or the East Coast with just me, as well, but we'll have to see what time and money allows.

It is Wednesday, so I should probably remark on some of the things I've been reading/consuming. I've been in a weird mood, writing-wise. I haven't wanted to write much of anything, not even fan fic, and I can't tell if I'm feeling kind of done with Bleach (*gasp* is that possible??) or if I'm just having one of my occasional fallow periods.

I've been assuming the later, which means I've been reading and viewing widely in the hopes of filling the creative well.

Manga:

I read the first five volumes of Gokusen by Morimoto Kozueko but then decided I didn't quite care enough to read to the bitter end. To be fair, the person who recommended this to me, recommended the anime, which I believe is only one season. It's hard to find as an anime online these days, since it came out in the early 2000s (I think), and doesn't seem to have remained popular enough for Crunchyroll to keep it in their catalog, as it were. The manga was fine? Reminded me, in a positive way, of all the other yakuza out of water stories I've read, including Gokushufudo: The Way of the House Husband by Oono Kousuke (funny! Highly recommend) and Hinamatsuri by Ohtake Masao.

I also read on recommendation: Loved Circus by Asada Nemui which is a yaoi about a guy who ends up working in a brothel, which sounds way smuttier than this story actually is. I mean, it is that, but it also had a surprising amount of story and I liked it quite a bit.

I also caught up on chapters of Morose Mononokean / Fukigen na Mononokean by Kiri Wazawa, which has become a favorite. I'm watching the anime, as well. It's basically yet-another-magical-boy who can see yokai, but in this one he runs into an exorcist, the master of the mononokean, who's job it is to protect the yokai. There's also some intrigue with the Underworld and the characters therein, that I find compelling. I recommend it, but not if you're tired of this troupe.


Anime:

Thanks to the regular gathering I've been watching/sampling a LOT more anime these days. Normally, I just don't make a huge amount of time for TV in my life. Not for any particularly righteous reason, but I just tend to be more likely to go to a manga site than an anime one when I'm goofing around on the internet. Probably because I do most of my manga reading on my laptop, and watching on my iPad--which I have to make a conscious effort to grab/set up.

What I've watched:

Shonen Onmyouji : Because of a continued interest in characters related to Abe no Seime, we watched an episode of this, which follows the grandson of Abe no Seime who is trying to make his own reputation in a world where his grandpa is literally the most famous wizard ever (Abe no Seime was a real historical figure, but he's become a Merlin character in a lot of anime.) The master of the Mononokean carries the surname Abeno, so one assumes that we're supposed to make the connection (apparently Ashiya is a well-known sidekick of the historical Abe no Seime, and that's the name of our hero.) Similarly, I'm very hooked on Midnight Occult Civil Servants / Mayonaka no Occult Kōmuin by Yōko Tamotsu whose main character is a distant relative of Abe no Seime, as well.

Then, because they're a series of very short episode, we also watched all of This Boy is a Professional Wizard / Kono Danchi Mahou ga Oshigoto desu, which is apparently a part of a number of indie OVA all entitles "This Boy is..."

On my own, I've been catching up on the third season of Free! Dive into the Future which I somehow missed when it first aired. I'm on episode four or something like that.  

On our anime night, we also watched the first episode of Good Omens, which I enjoyed. I'll be disappointed if they continue without me, but I am the party pooper so it may be the wages of sin, as it were.

Podcasts: 

I am also all caught up on the Amnesty arc of "The Adventure Zone," a roleplaying podcast. I also listened to the first couple episodes of "The History of English," which was recommended to me by offcntr and which I'm enjoying.  

I think that's mostly it. How's about you? Read/watch/listen to anything good?

 First of all, I've had a number of people ask me: yes, Mason's got his ROG back thanks to a quick order of a replacement cord. In fact, he's currently sitting across from me voice chatting with his friend Gray as they play Portal 2 together. 

Meanwhile, this is how I'm typing.



It may not be clear, but my Mac is missing a few keys. It's been without an "s" and a "d" for some time, but I'd be able to tap over the empty space and still get what I needed. But, the other night a bunch of keys on that row stopped working. I could bang on them as hard as I wanted and nothing happened. So, I starting trying to clean out the gunk i figured must be underneath the keys. I was getting some good stuff out, too! But... uh, then... yeah, let's just say I should NOT be allowed to poke at my computer with any kind of implement including a frozen turkey.

The keyboard, though?  I kind of dig it. First of all, it's the keyboard I "grew up" on (I'm actually old enough to have learned to type on a TYPEWRITER). But, the clickity-clacking of this baby? I'm into it!  I might be wrong, but I feel like I type faster.

It's just kind of physically awkward.

But, for now, it's good enough.

Anyway, sorry for not keeping everyone abreast of things. Mostly, it's been snowing here and I've been shoveling... I mean, the excitement is palpable, am I right?  I honestly don't know what I've been doing with my time--oh, let's see, I finished my critiquing/mentorship with my Broad Universe Canadian. We're going to be having our last Skype session on Wednesday, coming up.  After that, I'm going to throw myself into finishing up my apocalypse story, and then get working getting the novel together for Cheryl at Wizard Tower Press. Mason and I are going to spend tonight finishing up PSEO application stuff. 

So, yeah, it's like that.

Here's a picture of my kitty playing with his favorite mousie game on the iPad. He'll actually ask for it by coming up to the iPad and pawing at it. He'll do that and then look at me, like, "Hooman, do the thing to make the mouse come?"

For those of you just tuning in, I've been partnering with voice actor Jack Evans to record and produce audiobooks through ACX.com.  They've already produced Archangel Protocol and now they have just finished Fallen Host!  Because ACX is a subsidiary of both Audible and Amazon.com, you can buy my book exactly the same way in which you could buy any Audible book--on Amazon, on iTunes, or on Audible!  Here's a link to the Audible site: http://www.audible.com/pd/Sci-Fi-Fantasy/Fallen-Host-Audiobook/B01JQCXSW4.

What's cool about this particular project is that because it's just Jack and I and no middle-person/company, we're getting a royalty split similar to a self-published book. So, if you buy this audio version, Jack and I get the majority of the profits!  So, if you're looking for ways to support me more directly, this is definitely one of them.

In other news, Naomi Kritzer and I are teaching a class together at the Loft on short stories.  Don't worry, I'm not asking you to sign-up.  I've done my sales pitch for the blog.  We actually already had our first class on Saturday.  It's a LONG class: 3 hours and it's only two sessions. I feel like the class went very well, but I might be hallucinating because since the class started at 9 am and went until noon, I had nothing to eat but a WHOLE LOT OF COFFEE.  To say I was high energy during the class might be a slight understatement.

I think, too, my teaching style is.... okay, positive words would include: dynamic, flexible, and organic.  It worked pretty well to teach in tandem with Naomi because, as I told her beforehand (and the class, during,) that while I feel as though I'm a successful writer, I don't feel that short stories are necessarily an area of expertise for me.  I know a good one when it comes through my writers' group, but let's put that in perspective. I have Eleanor Arnason and Naomi Kritzer in my writing group, and between them they've had short stories nominated for and have won pretty much every short story award there *is.*  

So my job during class was to facilitate discussion.  To draw out ideas that Naomi has about writing short stories and to get the class to participate in ideas, etc.  Adult teaching, too, means making sure that adults leave class with a sense of having accomplished a specific goal. Adults like to leave class with something concrete in hand, so we had to structure the class in a way that provided students with some time to write and time to analyze the writing, etc.  And, despite the fact that the 3 hours slipped by much faster than we anticipated, we managed that.  The good news is that we have a second class to underscore the more important points, some of which we only skimmed over in the first class when we realized we were running out of time.

On the other hand, I'm a big believer in doing is learning, so the fact that all six of our students produced work they COULD take home and continue made me very optimistic that the second class is going to go as well as this one did and that all of them should be at least somewhat satisfied with their experience this last time.

Or I was high.

I could have been high.

Rachel and I published our next episode last Thursday to the School of Wayward Demon's site:  "Aftershocks Run Deep."

Check it out.  We're pretty deep into the story now and a lot of the ensemble cast is really starting to show off their personalities and the world around them is deepening.  It's that part of the story that starts to feel lived in.

In other news, Shawn and I spent the day yesterday baking.  Shawn likes to get ahead of the holidays by baking cookies and freezing half of them. so we have lots of nosh around for our Thanksgiving guests, and stuff set aside for Christmas.  We made biscotti, honey caramels, and sand tarts (a kind of butter-sugar cookie cut-out, but with an egg-wash which makes them kind of chewy in a really yummy way.)  Then, because Mason is a fan of it, we made steak for dinner and I baked homemade bread.  So pretty much the oven was on and the kitchen was busting all day.

Today we're starting to do the holiday cleaning and all of that.

I'm finished with my Yuletide assignment, but I haven't posted it yet because I'm still not sure about the voice of it.  So, I'm letting it sit for a while and then I'll re-read to see how it "sounds."

I also did a really fun back-and-forth via email interview with Rachel Manija Brown and Sherwood Smith, the authors of a new YA dystopian novel called, Stranger that will eventually be published on Gay YA.  I'll post a link here when that happens.

Otherwise, I'm fighting off a headache which I blame on this really weird, warm weather we're having....

Dang it.

Sorry that I haven't kept up with my blogging. Here is another MangaKast, though, if you're interested in Mason and my thoughts about the latest Bleach, Toriko, and Fairy Tail: mangakast.wordpress.com/2014/09/25/26-mason-and-lydas-inter-directional-adventures/

I think the problem has been work. Something happened at Roseville (someone quit unexpectedly? Got ill?) and they needed a reliable sub for two weeks running. I worked last Monday through Thursday, and this Tuesday through Thursday. PLUS, I had a pre-scheduled gig on Saturday for EIGHT hours at a different library (North Saint Paul.) So, I've been working a lot.

And then, today, John, the big circulation boss, says there's been a lot of mis-shelved books so he wants to quiz me. Would I please do a cart of fiction and non-fiction and set the books on their sides so he can check my work? No problem I say. I get nearly all the fiction right (one policy one I blew because I wasn't sure if all articles were skipped or just "the" so I mis-shelved a book that started "a".) Then came non-fiction... yeah, to be fair, out of fifty some books I only got five wrong, but that's kind of a lot for a library. What can I say? In my defense I normally don't try to shelve nearly as fast as I did today. I was feeling the pressure because I knew another person was covering my time on the desk and I felt responsible to get back as quickly as possible. So, you know... but *sigh* I'm not in any real trouble, but I still feel like a dope. I got a reminder of how things worked and I'm going to have to put little bookmarks in my work for a while so they can make sure I'm not messing up.

On the other hand, I work exactly once at a totally different library (Maplewood) in the entire month of October.

So, you know, not a lot of opportunity to screw up! Bonus!

But, you know, while I have to admit I messed up, I kind of doubt that the mis-shelving was down to me. I didn't actually do a whole lot of shelving the whole two weeks I worked there. Most of my time was on the desk or the phones. The first week I was there I did some new things like interlibrary loans and new book shelving, so...

Thing is, I like this job. I don't want to lose it.

But, so that's one major thing that's been happening: a whole lot of work. I nearly worked 40 hours this week, and I have to tell you, failed quizzes aside, I'm not terribly fond of the whole daily grind thing any more. Nothing I do at the library is terribly hard (with the exception of non-fiction, apparently), but you know, the ever day thing... yeah, I don't know how you people do it. It's... tiring. Also, I really, really need to paint our fence (which I "fixed" the other day), so I'd much rather be doing that. The fixed bit is in quotes because I very much did a "There I Fixed It" kind of solution. I just didn't want to have to go to Menards, so I made do with stuff we had around home. This meant making a "butt joint" with two shorter pieces for the spacer. I guess butt joints are a thing, but mine is... interesting. Still that whole fence is going to need to be replaced at some point so, really, this works for now.

Tonight is Wyrdsmiths, so I'm headed out in a bit. I also had a bunch of evening gigs this week, starting Monday--when I did the "Hobbit: Book v. Movie" panel at Common Good books. That was a small, intimate gathering, as we like to say, but lively none-the-less. I met another author who does a podcast with his kid, only his is a dad/daughter show called Generations Geek.

Then, on Tuesday night I had my first of many Japanese language classes through the Community Education program. It's going to be... interesting.  I'm feeling a bit old to be learning a new language, though I am motivated by... otaku.  I told Shawn that since my teacher said that I need to study for an hour a day that CLEARLY means I need to watch at least an hour of anime daily, right?  I'm pretty sure that's what it means.... 

Anyway, okay, I'm off to my writers' group.  I feel like a  loser writer, though, too, because thanks to work and my Japanese class i managed to miss a week of writing my Tate project.  

*sighs*

Today is a day of *sigh* apparently. 

But the podcast is fun.  Go listen to that.

My experiment continues. I've just posted (as Tate) the third installment of my work-in-progress: the sequel to Precinct 13, UnJust Cause.

Here's where you can read it: http://www.wattpad.com/44898135-unjust-cause-part-3-the-body-and-the-suspects

If you're confused about what I'm doing over there, the short of it is that I've really struggled with motivation to write ever since I was dropped by my publisher. The idea of posting this is a work-in-progress on WattPad is to keep the momentum going. I am really hoping to develop a following and a community there, so I can be encouraged to keep on keeping on.

I can't really say it's working so far. It's possible that I've been silent too long. My readers may have given up on me, which is totally fair. I really dropped out of the scene pretty hard. Particularly as Tate.

I probably should have considered doing this sort of self-publishing thing immediately, but, the truth is I held out hope that one of my other projects would sell quickly. Obviously, that didn't happen, and when it didn't, I was very thrown for a loop. I still have projects that I'm hoping my agent will be able to sell, but I probably wasted a lot of valuable time scrambling around trying to fight a system that changed on me, seemingly overnight.

For instance, she and I were still trying to sell books on proposal, which, apparently, despite how many books you've had published, you really can't do any more. You need to have a finished project, ideally, but, if not that, then a lot of finished product to show off. I didn't have that, and so when there was interest, I had to scramble and write... which I'm not as good at. I did my very best, but I'm much better at having a chance to have a lot of revision and time to feel my way into a character and the plot. So, no surprise, those 'samples' fell flat for a lot of publishers....

...which, of course, only continued to depress me.

So, the whole idea behind publicly posting my work on WattPad was to up my confidence. But, alas, I've lost half my readers between my first post and my second. So... that kind of sucks. I'm not sure what to make of it. It wasn't like I had an overwhelming response for my first post, either.

However, I'm still trying to use the publication schedule I've set for myself as a motivator. At least if I write a 2,000+ word installment a week, that's forward progress. Considering that previously I was writing zero words a week, that's a very good thing. So, I'm not ready to write off this experience just yet. Not by a long shot.

For those who are wondering, yes, the end result should be a self-published e-book. Provided, of course, I stick with this.

In other news, I'm hoping to see "Captain America: Winter Soldier" today at noon. I'm sure to have a review of sorts for you tomorrow (which I promise to put under the cut). Also, tomorrow is Wednesday, so Mason and I will have a podcast for you (talk about a dwindling audience! Ah well.) But, he and I will talk Bleach and the new SnK and Toriko and whatever else strikes our fancy. Maybe I'll give a little review of Detour, too.

Anyway, there you are.