Hello ElJay!
Do you know why I haven't deleted you? Well, I'll tell you. The fantasy that someone actually reads and cares is powerful enough to bring me back occasionally. :D
(Pause while I look up who this actor is on Numb3rs who looks vaguely familiar - his name is Brad Etheridge and I've never seen him before)
Anyway, life is exciting lately. The piece of writing I'm working on right now, I've promised the Junior Moonbeam as well as Mr. Moonbeam and the Moonbeam Roommate that I'll finish and submit for publication by the end of the year. This is frightening and exhilarating and the majority of my feelings about it are positive.
People keep telling me my writing is great. I was told many years ago that this doesn't matter because people will lie to avoid hurting my feelings, and that if I ever do manage to publish I will find that writing is just another job.
That might be true.
Then again, it might be true that I'm a good writer, and that I might be able to make it into a living, and enjoy doing so. And it might be true that the man who told me that was just fucking bitter. Actually, I suspect that to be true more every day.
Anyway, young Monty and his escapades with my vampires are pretty fulfilling to me right now, and the feedback I'm getting on them are also pretty happymaking (they're not all positive; all feedback has to do to make me happy is be constructive).
Mr. Moonbeam is still disabled; the VA tells him he's got no business working and then takes its fucking time doing anything about it, which really irritates me, but he's doing the deal, going to the classes and everything - I know he's frustrated, plus he's been diagnosed with diabetes, which explains several problems, and anyway that's all just a big mess, but I love him - truly, madly, deeply. He reminds me of Captain Kirk right now, at the beginning of Wrath of Khan (sorry, did you forget that I was a gigantic nerd?):
Gallivanting around the cosmos is a game for the young, Doctor.
And yet Kirk went on to do more and more. Mr. Moonbeam will get there, he just needs a break from the strang and durm.
/flight of ideas
My son, the Junior Moonbeam, has decided to go to law school. The way that boy makes connections is positively frightening to me. It's freaking effortless. He just rolls into them. He never doubts his intelligence or abilities (his appearance, now, this he doubts, which, LOL, young people). So one of his professors, who he's already charmed the pants off of, introduced him to the Chair of the Philosophy Department at Texas State, who happens to be a judge, and spent a while talking with the man - and decided law school was for him.
As the person who has listened to his arguments against every restriction and/or punishment for nearly 20 years, I have to say that I think he'll make a very good lawyer.
Also, my dad (the lawyer) is practically SPITTING with happiness. I was listening to the Junior Moonbeam talk to him on Easter Sunday (oh yes, even a pagan like me gets together with family on that day) and they were like two peas in a pod - it was kind of scary. :D
/flight of ideas
My characters are evolving, and I mean this in a good way. The introduction of a 14-year-old boy into their world has been more positive than I ever could have guessed. I had already intended to revamp them and the entire story (yeah, okay, pardon the pun), but putting Monty into the mix really enriched the whole nine yards.
Hopefully you'll see it soon at a bookstore near you. Buy it, plz!
/flight of ideas
My favorite uncle died last week. I'm still trying to work with that. Uncle Moonbeam was one of the best guys ever, and didn't deserve what happened to him. His whole life was full of crazy; it was like he never had a chance, between his crazy ass father and growing up in an orphanage and then moving on to Vietnam (four tours because Vietnam was better than home - do the math), and then PTSD and early onset Alzheimer's robbed him of his last years. Somewhere in there he got married and raised two fine sons, who gave him seven grandchildren, all of whom are awesome.
At his funeral, Dad tells me, they had his Army uniform up, plus his Santa suit, and his wife Lynne got a flag, and there was a 21-gun salute and they played Taps.
Taps makes me cry like a baby every time I hear it. Now, doubly so.
I should have gone, should have taken the hit for missing work, but I'm a pussy and hate funerals. When I die I don't want one. A wake, sure, but no sonorous service with people having to kiss my dead body and a preacher droning on. Hold up the urn and play the songs on the list I've given to the Junior Moonbeam, and let everyone get drunk and make ridiculous toasts, that's the kind of sendoff I want.
Anyway, I suck for not going to Nebraska for Uncle Moonbeam's funeral, but there you are.
My cousins Chris and Jason and their families are said to be planning a trip to Texas this summer, but Aunt Moonbeam hasn't decided if she's going to come. I hope she does.
Clearly I have a lot to say tonight, but right now I must go and pollute my lungs.
Instead I wrote a letter to Aunt Moonbeam, and now I'm watching embarrassing videos on Youtube. Good night, ElJay. My fondness for you is pretty boundless at this point.
(Pause while I look up who this actor is on Numb3rs who looks vaguely familiar - his name is Brad Etheridge and I've never seen him before)
Anyway, life is exciting lately. The piece of writing I'm working on right now, I've promised the Junior Moonbeam as well as Mr. Moonbeam and the Moonbeam Roommate that I'll finish and submit for publication by the end of the year. This is frightening and exhilarating and the majority of my feelings about it are positive.
People keep telling me my writing is great. I was told many years ago that this doesn't matter because people will lie to avoid hurting my feelings, and that if I ever do manage to publish I will find that writing is just another job.
That might be true.
Then again, it might be true that I'm a good writer, and that I might be able to make it into a living, and enjoy doing so. And it might be true that the man who told me that was just fucking bitter. Actually, I suspect that to be true more every day.
Anyway, young Monty and his escapades with my vampires are pretty fulfilling to me right now, and the feedback I'm getting on them are also pretty happymaking (they're not all positive; all feedback has to do to make me happy is be constructive).
Mr. Moonbeam is still disabled; the VA tells him he's got no business working and then takes its fucking time doing anything about it, which really irritates me, but he's doing the deal, going to the classes and everything - I know he's frustrated, plus he's been diagnosed with diabetes, which explains several problems, and anyway that's all just a big mess, but I love him - truly, madly, deeply. He reminds me of Captain Kirk right now, at the beginning of Wrath of Khan (sorry, did you forget that I was a gigantic nerd?):
Gallivanting around the cosmos is a game for the young, Doctor.
And yet Kirk went on to do more and more. Mr. Moonbeam will get there, he just needs a break from the strang and durm.
/flight of ideas
My son, the Junior Moonbeam, has decided to go to law school. The way that boy makes connections is positively frightening to me. It's freaking effortless. He just rolls into them. He never doubts his intelligence or abilities (his appearance, now, this he doubts, which, LOL, young people). So one of his professors, who he's already charmed the pants off of, introduced him to the Chair of the Philosophy Department at Texas State, who happens to be a judge, and spent a while talking with the man - and decided law school was for him.
As the person who has listened to his arguments against every restriction and/or punishment for nearly 20 years, I have to say that I think he'll make a very good lawyer.
Also, my dad (the lawyer) is practically SPITTING with happiness. I was listening to the Junior Moonbeam talk to him on Easter Sunday (oh yes, even a pagan like me gets together with family on that day) and they were like two peas in a pod - it was kind of scary. :D
/flight of ideas
My characters are evolving, and I mean this in a good way. The introduction of a 14-year-old boy into their world has been more positive than I ever could have guessed. I had already intended to revamp them and the entire story (yeah, okay, pardon the pun), but putting Monty into the mix really enriched the whole nine yards.
Hopefully you'll see it soon at a bookstore near you. Buy it, plz!
/flight of ideas
My favorite uncle died last week. I'm still trying to work with that. Uncle Moonbeam was one of the best guys ever, and didn't deserve what happened to him. His whole life was full of crazy; it was like he never had a chance, between his crazy ass father and growing up in an orphanage and then moving on to Vietnam (four tours because Vietnam was better than home - do the math), and then PTSD and early onset Alzheimer's robbed him of his last years. Somewhere in there he got married and raised two fine sons, who gave him seven grandchildren, all of whom are awesome.
At his funeral, Dad tells me, they had his Army uniform up, plus his Santa suit, and his wife Lynne got a flag, and there was a 21-gun salute and they played Taps.
Taps makes me cry like a baby every time I hear it. Now, doubly so.
I should have gone, should have taken the hit for missing work, but I'm a pussy and hate funerals. When I die I don't want one. A wake, sure, but no sonorous service with people having to kiss my dead body and a preacher droning on. Hold up the urn and play the songs on the list I've given to the Junior Moonbeam, and let everyone get drunk and make ridiculous toasts, that's the kind of sendoff I want.
Anyway, I suck for not going to Nebraska for Uncle Moonbeam's funeral, but there you are.
My cousins Chris and Jason and their families are said to be planning a trip to Texas this summer, but Aunt Moonbeam hasn't decided if she's going to come. I hope she does.
Clearly I have a lot to say tonight, but right now I must go and pollute my lungs.
Instead I wrote a letter to Aunt Moonbeam, and now I'm watching embarrassing videos on Youtube. Good night, ElJay. My fondness for you is pretty boundless at this point.