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New facet of Chaos, or Katie’s hyperbolic, mythic moving experience

ImageFor those wondering why I’ve been even more remiss than usual about regular blog posts, here is the reason – told in the (only slightly edited) words of the cause.  A happy cause it is, though.  Life is a positive flavor of chaos at Chez Wooldridge.  Helloooooo, Katie!!

 

xx

 

Passing the protective daemons resting with the dryads of this mystic land, I come upon my home for the unknown future.  The grand cathedral [Trish, here, is deeply moved by such a description of her crooked, humble, home] is adorned with angles, fairies, and protected by its four legged guards and their elfin comrades. [I really hope she’s not considering Nylis a guard. Maybe Loki, and the ghost–hell, even the statue, of Miss Rhetta.  But Nylis?]

 

First, we chose the clean out the junk in the room I wasn’t going to sleep in and turn it into a more cleverly organized storage closet and library. [It’s still a work in progress.]  To do this I, as a monkey, ascended the stair to the attic where was found many a box, chest, and crate filled with hidden fortunes and forgotten memories.

 

Next was the ship…. Ohhh…. Wait!!!  The weaponry.  Must mention those. [Even I had forgotten the depth of our collection…]

 

In the storage closet stood all manner of weapons for this palace’s gallant warriors to wield as each practiced and sparred with the spirits of the wood, lain bare from Winter’s chilly wind.  We transported these to the Temple Viewing (TV) room and blocked this entrance, protecting what would protect us, with the rugs and coverings found within the room that was to be changed next. [Oh my… those who know my writing – I swear, I am blameless here.  This is ALL Katie.]

 

Next was found a white, well built, with the sturdiest logs and paint, book shelf. Moving it is highly silly to watch and was done by mainly myself. (I made a short video).

 

Once we removed from the windows of the adjacent room [Katie’s near-future completed bedroom] what had been keeping the cold-winter out and sunlight from ever coming in a refreshing and cleansing sensation came over us and hot chocolate was the perfect for that moment. [To my editor friends: A discussion will be had about passive writing.] And so we share a moment by the Comfort Stove.

 

Tho’ this be a wonderful place to rest, we must journey forward through our days…

 

Days later, at Home Depot, I had a challenge of choosing not only the new color but the design, finally deciding on nothing and arriving from the store with a new fire protector (lamp shade), spackle and paint supplies.

 

Once the ship [read as: Katie’s room, I had to ask about the metaphor, too] was emptied was when the handwork began.  [And Katie got tired of writing, so she bulleted the rest.

 

Spackling:  Finding and sealing every hole and ding was a chore taking days.

Painting:  Two coats helped me keep my thoughts warm.

Furnishing:  Moving the bed took two of us and after this the rest was up to me.

 

Now, I am happy to see my new residence built to allow for freedom of motion to and from nature. [She has a balcony.]

My aery was made for flight and its motion felt when you sit in its center–being as the floor is tilted and the furnishings are placed as tho’ the room were a circle. [She likes her room and is kindly making the most of the aforementioned crookedness of my humble home.]Image

 

Now, we work on making the rest of the house liveable… while I attend to my email slayage, deadline challenges, and journey demands.  Ack… the mythic hyperbole is catching!!  I better end this post now and get to bed…

The Great Recovery of 2012

It seems more of this year has been recovering:

 

Recover from Scott’s trip

Recover from Arisia

Recover from Boskone

Recover from arrival of new roommate

 

Oh, yes, an old friend has moved in with me.  🙂  I’m very happy about it, but there is a lot of work involved because my house really is quite a mess.

 

I’m back in that pattern of reaction as opposed to pro-action…

 

Or not… it was my invitation that brought Katie here, and part of that plan was some serious house fixin’ work.  To make Scott’s old room livable, I knew there would be a lot of work.  It was pro-active.

 

But now, I have to react to fit the rest of my life around this.

 

As it is, I’m going to have to work around much more travel than I planned: two extra international trips to visit Scott.

 

“Work around” sounds so negative… it’s AMAZING to get this chance to travel with my Husband-of-Awesome.  It’s an opportunity I can’t miss.  But, I do still have responsibilities and deadlines (many of those new, too) that must be balanced around the opportunity.

 

My blog has not been as regular as I’d like, though.  I’m back to making it a work in progress.

 

I’ll aim for Monday and Thursday updates for now.  That’s about all I can promise.  There are too many Fridays that I am traveling and Thursday nights I’m prepping. 

 

I’ll do my best to keep things updated… like, ahem, my website… for which I’ll send my webmistress edits tomorrow night.  (And I’ll see if I can sneak in a person-to-person visit amidst my errands tomorrow.)

 

In any case, it’s another reinventing of my work, my job “title,” and, in essence, my life.

 

And I’m happy to share it for all its lessons.

My blogging plan…

ImageIt’s not working so well. 

 

Well, there’s a post here when it ought to be scheduled, more times than not… but I’m barely hanging on, and there’s been a lot of borrowing from other sources – look, the podcast!  Look – a cute cat!

 

I have a lot to say; I have articles in my head.

 

I have no time…

 

Little things around the house, reworking my whole schedule, fitting in this exercise and eating protocol… total time eaters.

 

I may end up just posting a photo of my houseguests on Friday.

 

Also – people near Worcester – sign up for the Writing Workshop I’m doing with two great friends this Saturday.  Today is your LAST DAY to do it. 🙂  Here’s the info on how to register.

 

Part of the blog-eater is this workshop – so I’m sacrificing for you!

 

🙂  Happy mid-week.

Happy New Year 2012 – Part 1

ImageYes, it’s that wonderful time of year again!  Time to evaluate my 2011 goals and move forward with my 2012 plans.

 

I remember reading in one of the many articles I perused over 2011 that publicly setting goals actually hinders one’s ability to get them done.  The psychology behind that is that the act of setting goals makes one feel “accomplished,” and therefore slows or stops progress; we need a certain amount of stress to push us to go beyond just setting goals.

 

I’m ambivalent about that because every year that I’ve done this exercise, I’ve improved my business life as a writer.  On the other hand, I didn’t meet a lot of the goals I set last January.

 

On the other, other hand (because I write spec fic and I can have more than two hands, damnit), a whole lot of opportunities and major changes redirected me…

 

See, I had this nice line of goals and steps set up, and then wooooo, that path took a 45 degree angle or something–starting not long after I even made said goals!—and while some of those steps and goals still fit on that line, a lot did not.

 

The Changes

 

Big Change 1: Spencer Hill Press

 

It started with being invited to co-edit this wonderful anthology for which I’ve been carrying around bookmarks and the first contributor copy around like my firstborn child.  Which it kinda is, being the first book with my name on the cover.  That, and it’s made of teh awesomesauce of awesome.  (Go pre-order it now!)  It evolved into perusing the slush pile and adopting a manuscript or two to love and edit… which I need to ask Kate about the protocol for pre-publication gushing.

 

Big Change 2: Presidency!

 

Of Broad Universe.  Because, y’know, just running events and stuff wasn’t enough.  I WANT THE WORLD!  FOR WOMEN!  WHO WRITE ALL SORTS OF WONDERFUL SPECULATIVE FICTION!  Ahem.  Yes.  I’m always very dignified about my responsibilities.  You totes should join our quest for world domination!

 

Big Change 3:  Calico Silver!

 

Ok, I claimed this last year, too, but I’VE NOW HAD A HORSE FOR OVER A FULL YEAR AND WE DID AWESOME STUFF TOGETHER!

 

Big Change 4: Concrete, Solidity on H-of-A’s Deployment

 

Which I can only talk about a little for various reasons.  But it’s big for both of us.

 

The Accomplishments

 

In planning for these posts, because they are always more than posts for me, I read back over last year’s posts.  (Mind you, I really am evaluating myself and planning as I write this.  I’m a writer; I think best in writing.)  I admitted last year that I wasn’t satisfied how I was tracking certain progress.  As I’ve learned more, a lot of what I was tracking is really useless info.

 

Here is just some of the highlights:

 

Starting with previously mentioned…

 

 

What all else I did…

 

  • Edited and updated another StraighterLine course
  • Finished complete second draft of Kelpie and sent to Beta readers
  • Published “Kali’s Promise” in Epitaphs, the New England Horror Writers anthology
  • Published “To Me You are Holy” in the Eye on Life: Poetry Locksmith
  • Had “Fixed” accepted into Corrupts Absolutely? (due out March 2012)
  • Had “The Unicorn & the Old Woman” accepted into Sauced anthology (due out 2012)
  • Submitted 22 fiction/poetry pieces to various markets, agents, publishers (3 fewer than last year, but higher acceptance rate!)
  • Guest of Awesome at Pi-Con
  • Presented panels at Arisia, Conbust, Wiscon, Pi-Con, Dragon*Con, and Anthocon

 

And my usuals…

 

 

There ya’ have it. A highlighted list of 2011. Feel free to compare it to my goal-setting post and weigh it yourself, but really, I’m proud of it, and that’s what matters.  Next post will be the goal setting, itself.

Too busy to blog…

Yes!  It’s a New Year!

 Yes!  I’m doing a New Year’s Plan set of posts.

 Just not today.

 Why?

 Image

 Image

Because Scott’s getting on a plane to the other side of the globe in less than 9 hours.

 

And that’s what he and our living room look like right now.

 

Though – one New Year’s Resolution will be my return to 3 blogs a week, so there will be one Wednesday sometime.  Where I’ll share my New Year’s Planning.