(no subject)
So....remember that thing wherein I said I would try to post on a rather more regular basis? Yeah, that thing. Still working on it.
wherewithall:
one story out; it's been rejected 4 times, 3 with "glowing" personal rejections. You know, the "just not quite right for us" type. So, as usual, I am still way outside the box when it comes to salebility, until I find "just the right" editor. Ha. Like that will happen with any paying market any time soon. I am told by friends that schmoozing at cons helps. Well, not unless I get a travel budget somehow. Anyhooo, one presses on, keeps scribbling, and that's pretty much all one can do, short of going to full focus on the "how to write a best seller" approach, I guess. And that's not going to happen any time soon
The Book-- yeah, the SF-y one; not the fantasy one, though I suppose right now fantasy is more saleable in general. I just get tired of it. So it's the SF-y one. With the desperate characters and the noir tone, and the damned colonized planet-station combo that's driving me a little crazy when it comes to backstory/cultural underpinnings, etc. I -could- just write my way through it, but I really do want a better idea of what's underneath and behind my characters so I can stretch them and really get the full nutritional value of the setting out of this. Anyhow, it's progressing all too slowly. But I haven't given up.
the Freelance work-- I stopped writing for the 0.40/word kids markets because they just pay too darned slowly. I really don't want to wait a year or more for my check --that's a year or more AFTER publication, not submission. Need to focus and get that moving along.
The PR work -- oh, I'm fine when it comes to emailing reviewers. Who wouldn't love talking to people about books?? But the setting up of interviews, etc....well, it sounds easy, doesn't it? But you're looking (virtually) at a person who will do anything to put off a simple phone call. Getting me to cold-email or call people and pitch an author interview is not my forte. Oh, is it not my forte.
I've also become a sort-of part-time teacher, since there is nothing for gifted kids at school (though really, it's better than it was when I was in school). Urchin is in middle school now--it started at 5th grade here--and given the rough transition we had last year, teachers are loathe to let him do a pull-out program, no matter how good his grades are, I guess. He's not paying attention all the time (because he already knows what they're covering, usually--which means when they -do- finally get to the New thing, he's not paying attention to the switch and misses it and runs (briefly) to catch up, and then goes back to reading the book inside his textbook. A proper catch-22, when it comes down to it. So enrichment is whatever I can dig up. Kahn Academy is good, though I'm having trouble getting him to move beyond the comfortable. He really really wants to work through ever darned lesson rather than skip anything: his brand of perfectionism at work. I've got to sit down and get him started with SCRATCH, which is a programming environment set up for kids by MIT. Lets kids "chunk" actions and objects together instead of actual code, to do animation, simulations, games, etc. Also, we could ALL use some more exercise....
Geocaching-- I haven't been out for a proper caching run in weeks. First the car died and needed v. expensive repairs, then everyone was sick, one after another, and now, well, now it's cold and I'm still caching alone. There are others I've met who are friendly enough, but they've all done everything in the area (this is not exactly a target-rich environment if you are diligent) so I'm on my own. Poor me!
Spouse-- run ragged with his job. Has been traveling 1-3 days pretty much every week this fall.
New toys-- a late birthday present: an MP3 player. Really, it's a Galaxy smartphone without the phone part. Who needs the phone anyway??((See me & phones, above). Give me WiFi and I can check my calendar, load books from my Kindle acct, check email, and look stuff up; without WiFi, I can still keep a proper to-do list, contacts DB, tickler files, story notes, read books, AND play music. It is truly a marvelous THING.
Todays' bind: urchin's glasses have fallen apart, again; the superglue is not super-enough. Time for an eye exam anyway, but still, his frames were just a year old! I MISS the Pearle Vision in Pittsford which, apparently, was so nice because it was a "franchise" instead of a "real" Pearle Vision. Which means it had 20x the selection of frames that the "real" one in nearby DeWitt has. Go figure. We have been going to PV because our AAA membership gives us a discount on frames and lenses (Insurance? Ha.) --unless I can find a suitable pair of frames this time, it will not be worth getting the prescription filled there, no matter the discount. Heck, Everyone's got discounts, right? So. We have a 6pm appt. We will be v. hungry afterwards!
Okay, enough blather
Excelsior! I say.
wherewithall:
one story out; it's been rejected 4 times, 3 with "glowing" personal rejections. You know, the "just not quite right for us" type. So, as usual, I am still way outside the box when it comes to salebility, until I find "just the right" editor. Ha. Like that will happen with any paying market any time soon. I am told by friends that schmoozing at cons helps. Well, not unless I get a travel budget somehow. Anyhooo, one presses on, keeps scribbling, and that's pretty much all one can do, short of going to full focus on the "how to write a best seller" approach, I guess. And that's not going to happen any time soon
The Book-- yeah, the SF-y one; not the fantasy one, though I suppose right now fantasy is more saleable in general. I just get tired of it. So it's the SF-y one. With the desperate characters and the noir tone, and the damned colonized planet-station combo that's driving me a little crazy when it comes to backstory/cultural underpinnings, etc. I -could- just write my way through it, but I really do want a better idea of what's underneath and behind my characters so I can stretch them and really get the full nutritional value of the setting out of this. Anyhow, it's progressing all too slowly. But I haven't given up.
the Freelance work-- I stopped writing for the 0.40/word kids markets because they just pay too darned slowly. I really don't want to wait a year or more for my check --that's a year or more AFTER publication, not submission. Need to focus and get that moving along.
The PR work -- oh, I'm fine when it comes to emailing reviewers. Who wouldn't love talking to people about books?? But the setting up of interviews, etc....well, it sounds easy, doesn't it? But you're looking (virtually) at a person who will do anything to put off a simple phone call. Getting me to cold-email or call people and pitch an author interview is not my forte. Oh, is it not my forte.
I've also become a sort-of part-time teacher, since there is nothing for gifted kids at school (though really, it's better than it was when I was in school). Urchin is in middle school now--it started at 5th grade here--and given the rough transition we had last year, teachers are loathe to let him do a pull-out program, no matter how good his grades are, I guess. He's not paying attention all the time (because he already knows what they're covering, usually--which means when they -do- finally get to the New thing, he's not paying attention to the switch and misses it and runs (briefly) to catch up, and then goes back to reading the book inside his textbook. A proper catch-22, when it comes down to it. So enrichment is whatever I can dig up. Kahn Academy is good, though I'm having trouble getting him to move beyond the comfortable. He really really wants to work through ever darned lesson rather than skip anything: his brand of perfectionism at work. I've got to sit down and get him started with SCRATCH, which is a programming environment set up for kids by MIT. Lets kids "chunk" actions and objects together instead of actual code, to do animation, simulations, games, etc. Also, we could ALL use some more exercise....
Geocaching-- I haven't been out for a proper caching run in weeks. First the car died and needed v. expensive repairs, then everyone was sick, one after another, and now, well, now it's cold and I'm still caching alone. There are others I've met who are friendly enough, but they've all done everything in the area (this is not exactly a target-rich environment if you are diligent) so I'm on my own. Poor me!
Spouse-- run ragged with his job. Has been traveling 1-3 days pretty much every week this fall.
New toys-- a late birthday present: an MP3 player. Really, it's a Galaxy smartphone without the phone part. Who needs the phone anyway??((See me & phones, above). Give me WiFi and I can check my calendar, load books from my Kindle acct, check email, and look stuff up; without WiFi, I can still keep a proper to-do list, contacts DB, tickler files, story notes, read books, AND play music. It is truly a marvelous THING.
Todays' bind: urchin's glasses have fallen apart, again; the superglue is not super-enough. Time for an eye exam anyway, but still, his frames were just a year old! I MISS the Pearle Vision in Pittsford which, apparently, was so nice because it was a "franchise" instead of a "real" Pearle Vision. Which means it had 20x the selection of frames that the "real" one in nearby DeWitt has. Go figure. We have been going to PV because our AAA membership gives us a discount on frames and lenses (Insurance? Ha.) --unless I can find a suitable pair of frames this time, it will not be worth getting the prescription filled there, no matter the discount. Heck, Everyone's got discounts, right? So. We have a 6pm appt. We will be v. hungry afterwards!
Okay, enough blather
Excelsior! I say.