WIP Wednesday

It is a blizzard here. I have large drifts of snow behind my garage doors that are probably taller than my truck at this point. The wind is blowing like crazy and occasionally I lose sight of my mailbox which is only about 20 yards from the house (probably closer). Not a single car has traveled the road this morning, mostly because the plows haven't been by yet. As I am writing this my wife's job called and said they are closing for the day. I think the only thing open around here are the grocery stores and no one can get to them.

I saw yesterday that the Triangulation Antho series is open for business again. I subbed to them last year and didn't make it in, so I thought I would try again this year. The theme is End of the Rainbow. Interesting, or so I thought. I am giving it a whirl. Here is my opening-

It was the last thing I received from my grandma. A prism. At least that was what she called it. It always sat in her kitchen window, which oddly enough, faced the north and never caught the sun.
I could never get it to work, not even on the most brilliantly sunny days. My father speculated it was cut wrong and couldn't refract the light properly. Still I kept it, in my kitchen like she had, even though in my tiny apartment the kitchen had no windows.

Winter Wonderland (or the white apocalypse)

It is the second snow of the season, the first was exceptionally early in October. The tenth to be accurate. This snow actually stuck for more than a couple of hours. They are calling on another 6-10 inches tomorrow and high winds to go with it. It could turn into a full fledged blizzard. I hope not, but it could.

I honor to commemorate this first snow of the season I am getting my truck worked on and making sure my snowthrower runs. I think I need to change the oil and put a new sparkplug in it. I should also get new gas for it. In the meantime, I might try to get some edits and re-writing done, although it isn't looking good for such frivolity. Here is a picture out of my backyard for your viewing pleasure.

Another religious holiday in Iowa

Today starts one of the most important religious holidays to many Iowans. Shotgun deer season (we don't allow hunting deer with rifles in this state) opens day and even though the sun is not yet up it is light enough to see the hunters driving by with their blaze orange vests and caps on. It is tamer than it used to be around here. My first year in this house it was almost scary. We had no neighbors that we could see (we have 2 now, the nearest is 1/4 mile away) and I watched in horror as some hunters, known by the locals as the cowboys, drive a herd of deer from their trucks, half of them loaded in the back. They almost caused an accident in front of our house by pushing the deer into the path of an oncoming car. I know at least two of the deer didn't make it out of the field next to my house, at least not on their own.

I am a more civil hunter. I prefer to wait or take a nice walk through the trees, by myself. I will give credit that the way they hunted they had a much better chance of getting something (like being shot) but I prefer my way to theirs. It seems more sporting.

In writing news- I managed to finish one story I have been working on since October, now I need to sit back and edit it. I also received a nice form rejection from one of the mags on Cate's list, Shock Totem last night. I will look over that story and figure out where it shall go. I might hold off on sending it out until the beginning of the year when Necrotic Tissue and Shroud re-open for submissions. I like the story too much to give it to the first market I come across. I don't know if that makes me a snob, but I don't care.

Have a good weekend.

Friday post

Don't you love the title of this post. So original. So thought provoking.

Really, I have been up to amazingly little this week. I have gotten some words down, but not very many. I have worked on reading some friends stories, but I haven't made it through them (and not because I don't like them. Quite the contrary, they are actually some of the best work I have read from these people.). I have tried to work on re-writes of my own stories and haven't made it past the first chapter.

Some weeks are like that. I will get over it. Maybe today will be more productive. How is your week going?

December, in like a lamb

I know, March is the month that comes in like a Lion and out like a Lamb but I think that December is where the Lamb exits stage right. mostly because it is supposed to be almost 60 degrees today and tomorrow it isn't going to get above freezing. Lucky us.

I was wrong about my post yesterday. I said I probably wouldn't get any more rejections in my inbox before the night was through. I was wrong. I got a lovely personalized rejection from an agent. Apparently she really liked what I was trying to sell, but it isn't what they are buying right now as they are narrowing their focus as an agency. At least it was encouraging. It was at least the most encouraging of all of my agent rejections so far this year.

I don't know how much writing is going to get done today. My daughter is home sick from school (the stomach-like flu strikes the Eyberg household again) and both children are being exceptionally demanding this morning. I will see where this afternoon goes. I would like to work on my NaNo story and get it closer to done. I still think it has some teeth.

Now, as we go into the last month of the year, I must get going myself. Later.

End of November

Well, it is the end of November. I have little hope that I will actually get any more responses this month (although it could happen) so I will start this post with my stats.

Accepted stories: 1 to 52 Stitches called 'The Problem With Gnomes' I like this little story and I can't wait to see the rest of the line-up.

Rejected stories: 2. both of which have gone on to find where they properly belong. (I hope)

Stories written: 0. None. Nada. Zip. Zilch. I couldn't even finish my nano book, although I do have a damn good start on it. I am also working on a short story that I have yet to complete. We will tack onto this stat that I still managed to write 43,000 words, just not all in one story. I can't complain. It was probably my last year to attempt NaNo. It was fun. Everyone should do it. At least once.

Published: 1. 'The Passenger' has been published, and beautifully I might add, in Midnight Echo. Link at the right because I am lazy today.

In other news I am a picture of health. Thanks to everyone for the well wishes. I went to the doctor today (3rd time this month) and after running a battery of tests usually reserved for men almost 2X my age, they have declared me to be in good health. While they could come up with no concrete reason why I have problems breathing sometimes lately I am happy to say that my heart is in good shape, especially. I am also in good shape, although after running the stress test I have found out I would have to do a lot of conditioning to get in shape for the Olympics. I guess that ship has sailed because I am not interested in doing that much work. I will stick to writing.

That is good because I have some stories I need to get back to work on. December is upon us. Hope you all had a good November.

Thanksgiving

Tomorrow celebrates the 388th anniversary of the first Thanksgiving in this country. it was a long hard summer and they learned a lot about the land they lived on, their new neighbors, and about themselves as well. It was as good a reason as any to celebrate the end of the harvest and hoping that they would make it through the winter months again.

Brings into focus all of the struggles we have to deal with on a daily basis. The broken ATM machine, the grocery store is out of the bread that we like, the internet is SO slow. It really makes it seem kind of pathetic. I wonder what our children will look at and expect from the world (This microwave is taking too long, its been like 5 seconds already). Or if we can find our roots and take the tough road because it will make us better in the long run.

I hope we can look at tomorrow and say, yes, we can persevere and grow from it, gain wisdom and move on, embrace new things and share with others. Let us hope we can get through the next winter together.