a.k.a. random musings from chickwriter

WWBD? Start a church, evidently!

We loves Friday, my precious, we do. Especially when I get to leave work early and go to see Great Big Sea! I’m still kvelling over the fact that I’m in the THIRD ROW!!

There’s nothing like watching TV when you can’t sleep…especially Smallville and Supernatural. Uhm, maybe that last wasn’t such a good idea, but at 2:00 a.m., it was the only idea. My thoughts on either/both – mostly yay to the SPN and the set up for next week’s season finale. Some Jossing going on, but this has been discussed elsewhere and with more coherence. (the links are interchangeable for “elsewhere” and “coherence” – b/c I’m certainly not that today.)

My SV Thoughts – a bit of meta and some spoilery

A most happy birthday to z_rayne – hope your day is fabulous!!

And apologies and belated birthday wishes to nifra_idril – somehow, in the craziness of this past week, I missed your day. I hope it was special and fantastic!!

Today has been a catch up day – when you’re away from work even as few as 2 days, things pile up.

D comes on Friday, and then it’s GREAT BIG SEA!!! w00t! with third row tix and fine company to boot (will be going with D, darthrami, strange_selkie, N, his wife B and a couple of other coworkers.

D’s my enabler – the woman who got me into Buffy, into due South (with help from beledibabe! and who is one of the people I dedicated Matters of the Blood to. Between her, beledibabe and allaboutm_e, I got back in touch with my inner fangrrl and was able to connect with my SF/F roots. They are the best women evah!

I know I promised to post the recommended reading list that I handed out at Malice, but I’ve been crazy busy. One day, soon, really, I will. ::g::

First off, I’d like to wish the happiest of birthdays to lynnmonster!  Hope your day is full of wonderful things, Lynn!

A quick overview of Malice as I’m still a bit overtired.

Friday was a haze of seeing old friends, meeting new ones and me buying stuff at the live auction. (eep!)

Hooked up with (read as: hung out and bothered/entertained the Buzzy Multimedia gals, Joy and June. As always, they were fabulous! I ended up spending a great deal of time there – which was awesome, as that was the perfect place to meet up with other folks.

At our nearly!midnight panel ™ – a slew of us discussed the paranormal – in mystery, in writing in general, in life. I’d put together a recommended reading/watching list for the audience, fifteen copies, as I expected only a handful of attendees. I was so wrong. There were well over fifty people there. I was so psyched! (FYI, I’ll post the list a bit later today, in case you’re interested.) The spooky atmosphere was provided by Donna Andrews, who graciously brought us some fabulous props, including wrought iron candle holders (with the requisite candles); bats, spiders, and other things that go bump in the night. Most of the panelists dressed appropriately. Michael Sean McGowan and I wore t-shirts from Buzzy (mine read: I’m not staring at you, I’m studying my prey). Charlaine Harris wore her custom-made fangs and a shirt that said “I’m not dead yet”); Lillian Stewart Carl wore ghostly gear, as did Pari Noskin Taichert and Deni Dietz. Barbara Hambly wore a lovely dark flowy shawl. Shirley Damsgaard, came as a witch. We were all congratulated at the end of the panel – and I have NO idea what I said/did/asked…I winged all of it, as I’d had little time to prepare. It’ll be interesting to hear the audio when I get the CD in a few weeks.

I slept very little that night, despite the fact I was up for most of Thursday night. Malice always affects me like this – I get all hyped up and energetic and can’t seem to come down.

Saturday started with a 7 a.m. brekkie with the brilliant Dana Cameron, beledibabe and others, followed by more gabfesting and the 9:00 a.m. Sex & Strumpets panel, which was a hoot. My Crossing Genres panel was directly following – hard act to follow, but I think we pulled it off. Didn’t hurt that we had a brilliant moderator and the incomparable Barbara Hambly and the equally lovely Lillian Stewart Carl were panel-mates. Kudos to them and the other panelists for sticking with this after the previous night – we were all so wiped!

The rest of the day was spent hanging out at the Buzzy booth, the MWA table and wandering the dealer’s room.

The banquet was lovely, except the awards presentation was a tad bit dry and rushed – found out later that the committee chair (who presented) was overly nervous. I have some ideas about next year’s presentation that I’m sending the board.

I skipped the traditional post-banquet bar scene, as I could barely keep my eyes open. Got to my room, changed into my sleep shirt and managed to read 100 pages of Charlaine’s newest, Definitely Dead before passing out. No spoilers, but I can say that I’m glad that my character (Maria-Star Cooper) is not only still with us, but is a bit more prominent in this book. (let’s all pause a moment for a bit of fangrrl squee!!!!!!)

Sunday started with packing and hauling stuff to the car, then a lovely brekkie, chatting with Charlaine and then hanging out in the dealer’s room until the bitter end. I’d planned to stick around for the Dead Dog Dinner, as I do each year, but by the time for the traditional afternoon closing tea, I realized that I’d best just go home.

Thank goodness I took today off, because I’m still really wiped. Plan to take a bit of a nap in a few.

Of the good
- met up with some fellow refugees from Quiet Storm and talked to them briefly about their plans.
- got to see loads of friends – both new and old

Of the great
- Nothing official yet, nor will I divulge details, but there could be good writing news ahead

Next month – BEA and Mayhem in the Midlands!

Make icons!

It’s nearly 4:00 a.m. and I haven’t been able to get a decent night’s sleep. Drifted in and out and finally just got the hell up.

I decided I needed new icons – so, ta da!!

First, the icon seen ’round the world (b/c I am in LOVE with the new series and Cap’n Jack is hotter than a hot thing!)

Second, one I’d been meaning to make for a long time:

Finally, gratuitous icon pretty:

At some point this a.m., I’m wandering over to Malice Domestic and meeting up with friends for lunch and some fannish squee. I’ll be AFK for the rest of the weekend, which means I’ll have a LOT to catch up on when I come back.

Y’all behave now. (heh)

Because my sister is insane in that fun kind of way – the countdown to graduation.

She’ll be exiting TWU with an MLS, a feat that needs much applause, as she will be turning 40 on July 11. (yes, Nan, that is Michael Rosenbaum’s birthday ::g::)

She’s hoping to get a Real Job ™ at a nearby public library, at which she’s been volunteering for a couple of years.

Yay, her!

In my world, work is of the sucktastic kind – nothing like coming in on Monday to “we need to have a conversation” email from a client. Sigh. The worst part – they were right, we had screwed up.

The rest of the day was sucked up with phone calls and stuff I really didn’t want to deal with.

Some day, things may get better…or not.

The Asshat(tm), formerly known as my publisher, still hasn’t removed my book from “in print” status at Ingram. So, people can still *buy* my book online and I *still* won’t get any money. I’m talking to my attorney at the end of the week (we’ll both be at the convention) and find out what I can do. I have my full waiver of release (full rights, the whole shebang), so technically, I believe this is totally illegal. I sent him email to the effect of “hey, when are you going to do this and dude, where’s my money” – no reply for more than a week. His Web site seems to have vanished, too. Now what?

I have a feeling there will be dead publishers appearing as victims in some upcoming books.

Have mostly caught up on the 9th Doctor – only 2 eps to watch until I can watch the new series premiere ep. Did a marathon this weekend. Really way darker than I expected – and that’s a good thing. I like dark.

Here’s hoping the week improves in a work-type way.

A happy birthday to audrarose!!

May it be shiny and fabulous.

Good looking, in that psycho killer sort of way…

So I knew that Callum was on this week’s episode of Smallville.

I knew that Tom Welling was directing.

I’d read all of your comments, re: the Callum, the episode, etc.

But DUDES, did none of you notice who played Naomi?

– the uncredited Anne Marie Loder, better known as ASA Stella Kowalski.

It was a bit of a “when fandoms collide” moment for me. ::g::

***

I’d planned to go see C’s hubby play music at the cafe in Olney last night, but after my work day, I skedaddled home for peace & quiet. Sometimes, I just need to chill and be by myself, last night was one of those nights.

In fact, this weekend is going to be one of those weekends. Today is overwarm and the A/C won’t be turned on in the building for at least another week or two. I’m spending the day watching Doctor Who episodes, catching up on last week’s TV and reading and trying to keep cool. My pitiful little fan is doing its best, but it’s not helping much.

Oh well, I’ll survive.

Next week: Malice Domestic!

(which is actually one of the reasons I’m cocooning this weekend – because starting Thursday night of next week, I’m going to be amongst a great many people and will be “on” – a fun thing, yes, but for those of us who recharge best when alone, this involves a need to prepare by spending some time at home)

A revelation! They are an exclusive to Target. WTF? It’s both amusing and fascinatingly bizarre all at the same time.

That said, I was at Target earlier today to buy toothpaste and tissues and Cadbury’s Caramel Eggs for freezing. But I had to buy a box of red Peeps.

Trader Joe’s – how do I love thee?
– I can come home at 7:15 p.m, nuke some grilled chicken strips, some jasmine rice and voila! a healthyish dinner that’s ready in under 15 minutes. There is chocolate, too.

My weekend was not as fun as some, but I was able to relax, watch movies and read. Can’t get any more perfect.

Speaking of movies – I was watching Walk the Line, and kept wondering who the heck that kid was – the one that played young JR Cash. D’oh, can you say, wee!Dean Winchester? I’d just watched the SPN ep from earlier in the week (Friday night), but didn’t realize it was the same kid (Saturday afternoon). Yes, well, that’s what IMDB is for. ::g::

Also watched Everything is Illuminated and was charmed by it. Not enough to buy a copy (it was Netflix), but enjoyed it, nonetheless.

Work is work and shall remain undiscussed, because I am home and trying to do home things.

The cleaners came today so I have a clean apartment, fresh linens on the bed/futon and clean clothes. In two weeks, I get to go to Malice Domestic and play, then the following week, D comes down to visit and we go to see Great Big Sea!!

I think, on the whole, life is pretty good, even though I’m officially without a publisher. The latter can be remedied.

As Tobias Buckell says, I’d never thought I’d be saying that about an SF show.

Details here.

Yay, them!

For those of you who knew who this was, Gene Pitney died while on tour in GB. (In case the subject line wasn’t hint enough, he was a singer/songwriter, most well known for that song).

Work has been a roller coaster of insanity, but I’m trying to remain zen about all of it. Today, that’s working better than it was yesterday.

My DVD of Brokeback Mountain arrived today, so w00t! I’ve spent the majority of today listening to Rufus on the iPod – hooked up to my speakers and just chilling while I work on catching up on daily stuff. I could get used to this. Have scheduled Friday as “work from home” day, so I’m very happy about that. Nothing like rolling out of bed at the last minute to start working. ::g::

On the TSTL* list for the day, because, yah, live ordnance as paperweight is really smart. Sigh. (snurched from scott_lynch)

Didn’t watch House last night, but am looking forward to more roommate fun with the boys. hee!

Current issue of Sci-Fi magazine has a lovely article and some photos from the upcoming Dresden Files, a series pilot based on Jim Butcher’s books. I’m looking forward to this. I first met Jim a few years ago, just as the first audio was released (Storm Front) , he was and is a fabulous writer and interview subject. I’ve loved the Harry Dresden books from the start and have hooked at least 8 or 9 people in my office to the series. My book pimping is an awesome thing. ::g:: (but I learned from the best, right, allaboutm_e?

On the writing front – I’m working on the query/synopsis of Matters to get that back out in the world, plus I have an idea for another book/series that I’m toying with. I do want to eventually get the 2nd book of the Blood Lines universe finished, too. I wish there was more time in the day/week/month and more energy. With work being as soulsucking as it’s been, it’s really really tough to make my brain work for fiction writing. I’m hoping that the energy from the upcoming cons (Malice and Mayhem) will help. I usually come back from those with a renewed sense of purpose.

*TSTL: Too Stupid To Live