Today, I get an email from a fellow writer, a woman who once lived in an African country and speaks Swahili. She’s coordinating volunteers for the Dying to Write Conference later this month and heard I was a sucker, ahem, able to volunteer. Be that as it may, she tells me that my email addy (mlima) means “Mountain” in Swahili.

Oddly enough, my last name originated as a much longer Basque surname (shortened when my g’g'greats descended from the mountains into the cities of Spain. The original meaning of the name: the shepherd who walks amongst the mountains.

If that’s not enough of a coincidence, I spoke to my “twin” today, my soul sister, who is half-Japanese. It seems her last name means Mouth of the Mountain.

Dude.

Pretty damn cool.

In other news, I’m off to Boston this weekend, and not to the lovely NYC gathering (waves at the gals) due to a business trip. A silver lining – there’s a real good chance that I can sneak out Saturday night to meet up with my pal, Christopher Golden as he, Tom Sniegoski, Craig Shaw Gardner and Jeffrey Carver sign at Pandemonium Books in Cambridge.

Chris and I have *known* each other via email and such for a few years now. He’s co-authored a few things with my cousins, Jeff Mariotte and Maryelizabeth Hart. I had the great good luck to get to vet a galley of the 4th book in the Shadow Saga, The Gathering Dark, thanks to cousin allaboutm_e. We’ve never actually met in person, as our paths keep diverging. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that this outing will work out.

I’ll be taking my laptop, but have no idea how much time I’ll have to play, since the trade show begins on Sunday and I’m booked for events every night until my Wednesday return.

So, BLG, sorry babe, looks like we’ll have to hook up next time you’re here, or maybe I can come up there some weekend.

Still trying to catch up on the week’s season premieres. The EyeTV tuner is awesome – recorded everything. I just now need to have time to actually watch! (Did catch Lost, though.)

Had some progress on Blood Bargain, thanks to beledibabe‘s sympathetic ear. Fortunately, she didn’t let me throw out the baby with the bath water. I did, however, throw out the boring, gray water. Amazing how much you can stare at your opening chapters and until you talk it out, you don’t realize how intensely nothing they are. My fresh start is a hell of a lot better. I think I’m going to lose some characters, too. The whole thing was beginning to resemble a William Wyler epic. (No chariot races, though ::g::) No wonder I was getting bogged down. I swear, if it wasn’t for beledibabe, I’d be the idiot jibbering over there in the corner, staring at the screen. Thank the writing gods for my fabulous alpha/beta!!

Can pirates kvell?

beledibabe asked me that today when I kvelled in her general direction.

“Why?” you ask, is chickwriter kvelling?

Mostly because:
(a) The check really was in the mail (my advance check)
(b) Was IMing with my editor and was told that
— (1) My book is considered the “A” list book for first quarter 2007
— (2) They plan to send out between 100 and 200 ARCs*

EEEEeeeeEEEE!!!

Do any of you all know good romance review venues other than Romantic Times magazine? They’d like to send out ARC to good romance venues, but since the Juno imprint is fairly new, my publisher is collecting lists. Any help appreciated!

And I now need to do an updated author photo – eep!

* ARC: advance reader copy

There are many wonderful things in the world.

• NaomiNovik‘s books were optioned by Peter Jackson (read Naomi’s post) There is not enough squee in the world to describe how happy I am about this. Yes, I know that “option” does not equal “movie”, however, if anyone has the desire, the tech, the cred to get this done, it’s Peter Jackson.
• David Hewlett is incredibly awesome – as a person, as a forum mod, and as a fellow geek. Thanks, David, for being so freaking cool.
• I’m moderating a panel, entitled “We Write Dead People” at first ever MWA Mid-Atlantic writing workshop. (scroll down on the page – it’s the 2nd event listed). I’m debating how to approach the topic – my copanelists are: another writer, a forensic taphonomist, and the funeral home director. I’m really psyched, though – I’m begining to re-discover the joy of being a writer. Maybe even getting back the mojo.
• Fandom really is a cool place, because: Ponies!
• SihayaB and I got some lovely feedback on a story we wrote together (and by that I mean SB did most of the writing part. It’s a couple of years old, so fun to get f/b.
• I just ordered the Elgato EyeTV Hybrid – so I will be able to hook up my region-free DVD player to Priscilla and get TV signals via the device, too. Since I no longer have cable and they finally turned off the cable signal. Basically, this means that my TV will be obsolete.
• I’ll be in Boston in October for a work thing. I’ve got possibly one night free. So, Boston area peeps? You game for dinner somewhere? (I’m not sure which night yet, either Sunday, October 8 or Monday, October 9)

.

In conclusion…my new cover art for the re-issue of Matters of the Blood (incomplete – just the art part without the text) The book is still scheduled for March 2007 release.

Behind the cut

Just realized I’ve not posted in a while. Time flies when you’re, well, busy.

Of the WAY good, my publisher just signed a contract to produce mass market titles (SF/F) with Dorchester Publishing, home of Hard Case Crimes which was co-created by naominovik‘s hubby, Charles. Yeah, the publishing world is really a SMALL SMALL place. I squeed with joy when I read this, because I met some of the Dorchester folks at BEA and they were fabulous people!

Also heard that my parents, my sis and BIL plan to visit for Thanksgiving. They are planning/plotting now and I hope that it works out. I won’t have extra time off, and can’t really afford to go to Texas, but it will be fun to have them here.

Really looking forward to viewing the newly posted vids that you all have been squeeing about, but must go home first. Really wish I could have joined in the VVC fun, but alas, this is a con that I’m unlikely to make in any year. The timing is just bad for me.

In any case, it’s fun reading the con reports and getting to experience it vicariously.

Plans for the rest of the week:
Work
Season 4 of Footballers Wives
Going to see my buddy Laura Lippman at Borders Bailey’s Crossroads on Weds. (so sad that we live so close and yet, I don’t see her except for at her book signings or other events)

Thanks to all of you that posted so many lovely comments about my whinge last week. My energy levels are still iffy, but I’m feeling more hopeful. Work is busy and a bit stressful, but I’m keeping my head above water. I’ve got a follow up appointment on Friday with the blood sucker…ahem, hematologist. We’ll see what he says then.

Here’s hoping the rest of the summer (what’s left of it!) goes smoothly.

Even when I was a kid and young teen, when all the girls were swooning over David Cassidy and Bobby Sherman, I was a bit different. MY version of the cool guys weren’t necessarily the recognized celebrities (e.g., movie stars, TV stars, Famous People(tm), rock stars.). To me, the really cool ones were the ones that made things work – you know the techies, the roadies, the ones that swarmed behind the scenes, makiing the magic happen. Okay, I get this, I’m a geek fan. Even though I can fangrrl Callum, Viggo, Joe Flanigan and the rest of them, I have a soft spot in my heart for the unseen heroes.

Why am I going here? Because last night, bheerfan and I went to see the best combo in the world – a geekish celebrity; a guy that encompasses all that is cool to me: Alton Brown. Even though I’m not much of a cook, (and by that I mean, at all), Alton Brown and Good Eats has been a favorite of mine since day one. It wasn’t just a recipe show. Not just a chef parading around a kitchen that no sane person owns, showing off things that most people won’t ever cook. This was about Food and the Science of Food and How Things Work. ZOMG, a total geek love affair was born.

So when I found out that Alton Brown was coming to the Smithsonian as part of the Resident Associates programming, I was nearly first in line to buy tickets. We had a blast. Alton B is brilliantly funny, entertaining and a total hoot. We also got to preview video from his upcoming special show: Feasting on Asphalt. If he weren’t already married with kids, and if I weren’t totally waaaay too old for such, I’d want to marry him and have his little foodie babies. The new show starts on Saturday, July 29th on the Food Network.

Getting Rejected…in a literary way.
I’ve been corresponding with a New York Agent, to be known as NYA, in the hopes she’d rep my contract for the Matters reprint. I’d e-queried via their agency site, and dropped some names (with permission). (One of the agencies senior agents reps a couple of friends of mine.) NYA senior passed this along to NYA junior, a relative new agent to their firm, but with some years experience at another firm. NYA junior declined to rep this after reading MoB, but I got the BEST REJECTION EVER.

I’ve graduated to a really really good place as a writer.

No form letter, no “not for us”, but instead, first a lovely email with feedback and the decision to decline. Then, after I responded, thanking her for her time, I got this (slightly edited for irrelevant info):

From [NYA]
To: [me]

Thank you…,

I think you have a very bright writing future ahead of you.
…. You have inventive characters and a great writing voice though, so I do hope very much you’ll keep writing. (And I’d LOVE to see your next one.)

[end email]

Seriously folks, this is the cream of the crop when it comes to rejections. Needless to say, she’s the first on my list when the next project is finished.

It’s not a yes, but it’s the next best thing.

Last night, my mobile started ringing while I was driving home. I glanced over at the display; it was my sister. Unfortunately, both the fact that I was driving and that there was an ambulance headed my way (behind me) meant that I had to wait to see what she wanted.

Got home and listened to the message. It was mostly: “Eeeeeeeeee!!!! I passed!!!!!” My little sister, a.k.a. birki_lib (who STILL has no posts!) is now a full-fledged card-carrying librarian. w00t!!!

Graduation day is August 12, one month and one day after her 40th birthday.

Way to go, Laura!! Not an easy feat, completing the last part of undergrad and then grad school while working fulltime.

In other news

* This has been a bit of a crap work week, in particular dealing with one client. Otherwise, the work part is fairly decent.

* My apartment looks like the aftermath of a hurricane. First the picture window was cracked, so I had to move *everything* away from there. This meant cramming my rocker/recliner & ottoman at the other end of the apartment, by one of the closets. (I live in a studio – one room, about 14′ x 17′). Then I had to more all the DVDs that I had lined up on the wide sill at the side of the HVAC convector unit, plus the other stacks/boxes I had below that. Again, stacking stuff up by the closet.

The window’s been replaced, but last night, the cover of the convector fell off as I was trying to rehang one corner that had sagged. Damn thing is metal and really heavy. I called downstairs, but they didn’t have anyone available to come until today.

Part 3 of apartment saga is that once I moved all the boxes/books/shelf in the Great Purge of a couple of weeks ago, I noticed that the paint on the wall to the left of the window was not only peeling/cracking, but frothy in place and bubbling up in others. Looks like that at one point in the 6 years I’ve been there, there was a leak or something. I called them about that at the same time I called about the window, but I don’t know when the paint/plaster people are coming. This basically means that I can’t move stuff *back* to that corner yet. Of course, part of me wants to re-think the layout of the place. Not much you can do with a rectangle that is living/sleeping/office area, but I can try.

I do need some different shelving units. The ones I bought a few years ago are okay (big grey Rubbermaid ones that hold a *ton*) – but I really would like some nifty sleek Ikea/Container Store-like book/media shelves that would flank a TV stand that’s not a cheap imitation of an icebox. (garage sale purchase that came from San Antonio with me). Budget’s really tight right now, so this will have to wait, but I have plans.

* I’ve been contemplating recently on how to make some decent money writing. It’s not easy, if you’ve ever read alg‘s LJ, you know that trying to make a living as a writer is a rather futile endeavour. But, it occurred to me that while I’m waiting for Matters to be republished (early next year), working on Blood Bargain (e.g. book 2), I might also be able to put together a longish erotica story that I can submit to Ellora’s Cave. They pay fairly well, and I do have a few snippets/stories lying about that might fit the bill. It’s definitely an idea (and not a new one, I’ve talked to other folks on this and they are actually working towards this. I just hadn’t applied it to me…d’oh!) I’d definitely go for the gay pr0n, and I’d do this with a pseudonym, so if you have any name ideas, I’d love to hear them.

* Footballer’s Wives – what a hoot! I finished series one and watched the first episode of series two last night. It’s totally mind candy and the best kind of trash TV. Why had I not known about this show before?

* Eureka – was way better than I expected, if a little cliched. WTF, it was fun and I’ll watch it again.

* I think I need to make myself a Captain Jack Harkness icon.

* TGIF…that is all.

Haven’t had much of a chance to catch up on LJ today, but did take a quick break to see this news item.

Can I just say WTF? As in What the EVERlasting FUCK?

250,000 first printing?

$275,000 for promotion?

My mind boggles.

I really really really don’t understand the publishing industry.

Should I present myself as a part of a secret supernatural family? Would this make NY publishers sit up and beg me to sell them my book for a ridiculously high amount of money?

::headdesk::

I just don’t get it.

“I want to be very clear about something: Gynecological exams are never sexy. Absolutely never. Understand me: never. If only you had a cervix.”

For those of us who value good writing, I recommend Pod-dy Mouth, a blog by an incognito published author. She’s taking self-published titles and doing a Miss Snark. (from whom I snagged the above link)

In other news, today is my little sister’s 40th birthday. Happy Birthday, Laura!! It’s hard to believe that you’ve joined my decade – I still remember the days when you were “Little Lima”, hanging out at the pool, graduating from high school, getting married. That was just yesterday, right? In any case, hope the day is FANTASTIC!

It’s been a productive few days for this Lima. Freecycle Guy picked up the majority of the books/tapes on Saturday, and is coming by tomorrow for the balance. I had dinner Saturday night with beledibabe, who brought me the coolest Honourary Mountie pin that she’d snagged from the Folklife Festival from one of the Corporals that we saw last week at the Smithsonian presentation. Saturday a.m., I got up at the asscrack of dawn (okay, 6:30 a.m.) because I needed to write…and write I did. About 5,000 words of backstory and history that was sorely needed. I’d been flailing over these characters and now I think I have a handle on them. I’m also fairly well along on the revised chain of events. Some things are going to go, some are staying. In any case, most of the scenes/events have to be shuffled around to accomodate the new plot threads.

This is the part of writing I LOVE – the world-building; the event-building, the creation of characters. Even though most of the 5,000 words will never make their way into the finished book, I created four people, gave them names, histories, backgrounds, emotions. I know why they do the things they do, which to me, is essential in writing believable characters. One of the best at this is Laura Lippman, who crafts amazing people – even the tertiary characters have life. You know they exist beyond the pages of the story. I am grateful to the events in my life that have not only thrown me into her company, but allowed me to call her friend. She is not only one of the best writers around, but a fabulous person and I hope to learn from her.

The absolute hardest part of the writing for me is to let myself get through the first draft. I’m a bit of a perfectionist in making the words work together, making everything fit, that I lose track of the fact that I need to actually complete the story. My first book clocked in at just over 91,000 words. I’m about a third of the way there, but am tearing those existing pieces apart and re-building. Some days, it’s easier than others. ::g::

Today is going to be much of a no-writing day, as RL intervenes with day job duties. I have one of my favorite set of clients arriving in a few minutes for 2 days of meetings as we finalize a massive project. Tonight, we’re all going to dinner, which will be fun. Even though I’m working the day job, my brain is still ticking with plot threads, dialogue and characterizations. Just last night I figured out how I could tie all the various plot pieces together and how I could connect the motives of each of the characters. This…this is what makes it all worthwhile.

Feel free to totally skip the whingeing. Really.

The power went out about 10:00 p.m. last night. No worries, I have a flashlight. I can handle a wee power outage…except, not so much with the wee and more of the OMG, it’s still fucking out.

I Slept horribly as it got extremely warm and humid inside b/c no power = no a/c.

This morning, I wake up to, you guessed it, no power still.

Freezing cold shower, then a 10-story walk down to the ground level…in the DARK with my flashlight because the emergency lighting doesn’t last past a couple of hours.

Many storms wreaking havoc all over the place, but hey, I got to work. Work, which is on an “iffy” grid, is actually fine – no power outages. Go figure.

Once at work, though I find that I have no team today. One guy is on vacation. (this I knew). The other guy called in. Arrgh. And this is the last week of the month, and the last week of our fiscal year.

The weather is still sucky – thunderstorms predicted all week – just started to rain again.

Tried calling my apartment building – only got the weird busy signal, which usually means no service. This does not bode well.

Good thing is, I followed the 5 Ps – I packed an overnight bag, with changes of clothing and toiletries and put Blanche in the backpack along with my PDA and assorted power cords. So, if I have to camp out at a coworkers, at least I have clean clothes, a computer and stuff to read.

Of the good:
Over the weekend, I watched Entourage, season 1 (thank you, Netflix); Kinky Boots (really cute) and caught up on The Closer and Saved. I did not, however, get any writing done.

I still want a do-over, though. ::points to new icon:: Tardis, please take me away!!

I’m still ticking, still just fine. Doc visit on Friday yielded nothing but a bit of anemia, a sinus infection and a request to follow up with more bloodwork. Uhm, seriously, I *write* about vampires, I don’t want to hang out with them. ::g::

Thanks to all of you that sent me get-well wishes, it was a crazy crazy week last week!

I spent the weekend fighting with Word, trying to get my edits back to my editor. Seems like the stupid “track changes” function wanted to just remove chunks, when I hit “accept all changes”. ARRGH. I ended up spending nearly three hours having to go change by change and accepting them individually. Sigh.

Note to self: never use “track changes” on a manuscript EVER again.

Watched Transamerica on Sunday (yay Netflix) and enjoyed it immensely. Spent the rest of the day vegging.

This week will be full of work stuff that I need to get done before Friday b/c yay, Con.Txt!! In my infiinte not-wisdom, I reserved a room for me and bheerfan for Friday and Saturday nights, not realizing that I probably wanted to come stay on Thursday. (yes, yes, I know, I did this LAST year, too. The brain, she is losing it.) So in any case, I’ll be there first thing on Friday morning. Looking forward to hanging with folks I rarely get to see in person and meeting new folks.

Now that my edits to Matters are done (at least until I get more feedback), I’ll be concentrating on Book 2 – which I believe I’m going to go back to calling Blood Bargain. I’ve screwed around with titles and I really like this one best. I’ve already done a lot of preliminary work, notes, etc. – filling in holes about Keira’s world, how things work, etc. Now I get to the tough and most exciting part – writing the damned thing. I have about 35,000 words from a previous incarnation of which I can salvage most of it, but really, it’s the sitting down and doing it. Ah well, the trials and tribulations of authors. ::g::

If I don’t post again, catch many of you at Con.Txt!!