One Girl's Quest to Kill Trees

So ... huh.

2012-01-25T23:43:00.000-08:00

Looks like I completely forgot about this blog, does it? Well, I'll tell you what ...

... I did. And I let my studies and Semaphore take over from my writing time, until I had absolutely nothing to post about here.

I'm not particularly happy about that, but, well, that's what happened. I've been trying to do better, these last few weeks - scribbling, mostly, but at least it's words.

This year I'm moving to Wellington and, hopefully, studying for a really awesome course. Whether or not that ends up happening, I'll be blogging throughout the year at A Wild 2012 Appears.

That's the plan, anyway.

In conclusion:

I may not have got a lot of writing done last year, but I sure had a hell of a lot of fun.

My, it's been a while ...

2009-02-03T23:59:00.000-08:00

... And although a good few things have happened since my last post, I don't think I have the energy to talk about them all. Suffice to say that we got the funding for the anthology, and it's gone very well, although we do still have a few books left to sell. So, if there's a gap on your bookshelf ... :)

Still on the Semaphore track, the March issue is coming up, and should be fantastic. We're standardising the issue contents to 5 stories and 2 poems / issue (dependent on quality of submissions received), which will be good - I've occasionally floundered over how many pieces to accept and reject, but with a guideline, it'll be much better. This issue's going to be illustrated, too, if I can manage it.

As for my own life, I'm taking advantage of the fact that uni hasn't started yet to get a bit of writing done, or at least started. I have a few short stories simmering away, and "The Fairy Ring" is going to feature in March's issue of Aoife's Kiss. I've been waiting for this one for a while, and I can't wait to see it!

Ho hum ...

2008-10-12T20:05:00.000-07:00

Have begun whittling away at the list of titles I published at Semaphore in order to select the best for December's anthology. Looking quite good so far. Have already sent off congratulations to the very best - M. Lawrence Keys proved to be quite mysteriou and hidden for a while, but no one can hide for long on the internet - and will get the others done when my lovely co-editors have done their own sorting through the list.

I haven't heard anything from either of the two places where I applied for funding, but that's to be expected at this stage - I'm just too impatient. And if everything goes to pot I can always fund the damnthing myself, after all. Eep.

Getting my schmoozing shoes on

2008-09-15T04:55:00.000-07:00

Aaak. I'm on edge, nerves jangling, senses singing - and why? I've just approached an artist about doing the cover of this year's Semaphore anthology. And his work is so gorgeous - especially one recent piece in particular, and oh, how easily it could be converted to the proper dimensions and format - that if he declines my offer, I'll honestly be heartbroken.

And he may well decline. He accepted before, and provided work for the March issue - but making a cover involves more work than that did, and I've little enough to pay him with. Royalties alone may break me (separate rant: do better maths before publishing royalty offers online), and all I can offer my artist is a complementary copy with free postage or a token fee, ie, what the book and postage would have cost me had he chosen that.

All sufficiently flexible extremities crossed, and good night!

Infamy!

2008-09-08T02:19:00.000-07:00

The bookbinding tutor of the Writing and Bookbinding course I'm taking at the moment has heard of Semaphore.

I am dizzy. People in my city have heard of my ezine. People in my city think my ezine is neat stuff.

OMG.

Printery failure, and writing again

2008-08-13T03:52:00.000-07:00

I sent out requests for quotes for Semaphore Annual to a couple of print places a few days ago, and just now realised that I specified 290 leaves rather than the more sense-making (and less brick-like) 290 pp. Whoops. I has professionalism, I swear!

I've also been working on my writng, by which I mean, working on getting some done. I've discovered two things during my experimentation:

- Firstly, challenging myself to write a set number of words works. The only real experience I'd had inthis before was NaNo, which wasn't exactly conducive to a healthy relationship with my scribblings, but five weeks ago I told myself that I would write 1000 words a week for the next forever. Five weeks later, and my words-per-week tally hasn't dipped under 2000 once. So, that's working, somehow.

- Secondly ... and this one is a bit embarrassing. For a long time I've been a proponent of writing on the copmuter - type first draft, then print and edit, then type final draft. Rinse, repeat. But I've been leaving the laptop at home lately due to its weight giving me a sore back, and without it around I've had to resort to writing my stories longhand in an exercise book. And, by God, it's worked. There's no Microsoft Work cursor taunting me when my brain dries up! There's space in the margins to doodle while I wait for the next thought! I can pick it up anytime and work on it! It's fantastic. Thanks for nothing, technology.

So, I've written around 14 000 words on three different stories so far. One story is going well, one has been abandoned pending me becoming interestd in that world again, and one is going to be rewritten to make the opening less dull and more sense-making. And I'll be rewriting it on paper. Oh, yeah.

Semaphore Surveys

2008-06-10T15:37:00.000-07:00

It's an easy enough problem to diagnose. Surveys for the third issue of Semaphore start coming in - but what's this? A flurry of half-completed surveys, all of which rate a particular story high and most of which don't even have responses to any other piece from the issue? Enter me, sneaking over to statcounter to see if there's a similar pattern to where my visitors have been coming from, and what do I find? A blog post advertising the publication of a friend's story, and exhorting readers to scurry over and show their support.

Subtlety, guys. You no has it.

It's not that I'm opposed to people advertising their publishing successes - or, in this case, their friend's success - but I think this sort of thing is a bit cheap. It's glaringly obvious that most of the people who came from this particular blog for this particular story didn't bother to read the issue; they might as well just be sockpuppets or a bot.

A bit disappointing.

Writing again!

2008-05-20T04:12:00.000-07:00

The biggest of my assignments are all done with, so I've had some time to stop thinking about how depressing American Lit is and start being creative again. It's such a good feeling.

I'm working on two things at the moment, and hope to be starting on a third pretty soon. The first two are a short comic strip story about the various misadventures of Kakapoboy (power of - er - sit and stare bemusedly at the weird thing that's eating your head?) and a short story about virtual reality and AI and all sorts of other sciencey stuff that I just handwave in order to get to the plot.

Third thing is this month's writing competition for Deus Ex Machina - two prompts this time, "armageddon" and "create your own myth or legend." Never ended up finishing the other one, so I'm hoping to do better this time around. I have an idea for it, but these other projects are just that much more interesting at the moment ... le sigh.

Honestly, the next time I actually finish a short story, I've got to do something spectacular to celebrate, it'll be that momentous an occasion.

Review: A Posse of Princesses

2008-04-21T02:04:00.000-07:00

Seeing as I spend so much time reading when I should be writing, I may as well write something about the reading I'm doing...

A Posse of Princesses

by Sherwood Smith

I’m afraid a disclaimer is in order here. When it comes to Sherwood Smith, I’m by no means unbiased: her books Court Duel and Crown Duel were staples of my childhood, read and reread ad nauseam (I’m sure that with the late fines I paid on them, I could have actually purchased my own copies, but oh well), and I dipped into the Wren books as well. Unfortunately while the copies of Crown Duel and Court Duel that my library owned were beautiful hardbacks, its copies of the Wren series of books were dusty paperbacks the text of which was scrunched so tightly onto the page that it was as if it didn’t want to be read. Nevertheless –

A Posse of Princesses is a gorgeous book. For me, returning to Sherwood’s world was like climbing into an old dream; but even without that background, this is a great story. Sherwood Smith has the rare ability to write a story which hits all the comfortable marks of this brand of fantasy – courtly intrigue, young love, marriage alliances between warring neighbours – but gives them that tiny twist of reality or, as it may be, unreality. The characters in A Posse of Princesses are all well-rounded and interesting – no cardboard here! – and their personalities, motives and stories are so much more believable than the stereotypes of, for example, the beautiful princess intent on snaring the crown, and various young lovers are forced to see that teenaged infatuation is not necessarily the True Love that ballads tell of. This is a world where magic is so omnipresent as to be mundane, and yet may still enchant your mind if you are caught unawares.

I would recommend this book to readers in their younger teens. That said, however, I’m almost leaving my teens and I enjoyed it immensely, so perhaps it is best to forego such restrictions. This book is perfect for anyone who wants to be immersed in a world of magic and adventure, and both the benefits and the dangers that accompany such things.

Unhappy

2008-04-15T03:33:00.000-07:00

I had one of the strangest experiences at fencing tonight (yes, I do fencing. If I were a dedicated blogger you would know this already, but I am not, so lo: infodump! It’s run by the uni’s Clubs and Socs and was one session a week for the first half of semester; this was the final session).

Today we were doing a mini-tournament to celebrate the last class. First bout, I come off feeling slightly dizzy-high after losing terribly (3-0). Second bout, I come off feeling wobbly, having scored an impressive single point against my opponent. Third round, I come off and fall down.

The wobbliness went away during each fight, but after that third one – oh, hell. I could stand upright for a bit, but then I went over sideways and had to lean on a concrete strut, and then to the floor with me it was. Took off my mask so I could breathe properly, because I wasn’t so conked out that I didn’t know Oxygen = Good in most weird situations, and promptly started to bawl my eyes out. Even now, near on three hours later, I don’t know why; it must have been shock, or just general bodily weakness, or something. In any case I was appalled at myself.

The instructors were lovely of course; the woman took my place in judging and took over running the competition from the man, who helped me out of my fencing suit and took me to the sick room to rest up. My friend who did the course with me freaked out a bit, I think, and I feel really bad about that. We had a bit of a laugh after class though, so that’s all right. Anyway, lovely chap got me a cold wet cloth for my forehead, made me lie down and filled up my drink bottle for me, and I started feeling better after ten minutes or so. He told me that it was probably the heat that got to me, and that it does happen to other people so I’m not entirely pathetic, which is always good to know. And it probably was the heat, the sudden movement and stress after just blobbing in the library all day ...

Whatever it was, it was scary. My body has never done something like this to me before. I’ve only fainted once, and I know why I fainted then: I was having blood taken, and I hadn’t eaten for hours beforehand, so hello carpet. I’ve felt dizzy before, and I’ve known why: because I’ve stood up too quickly after being sedentary, and I get a head rush. My body has curled up and cried at me before, and I’ve known why: four-day tramps without proper fitness training, day-long kayak trips without proper fitness training, cramps of doom, illness.

Nothing like this, though. I had eaten less than an hour beforehand; I’m not on my period, so my blood iron should be happy; the previous classes had been much more strenuous, and I’d got through them with nary more than two aching thighs.

I was scared that my body could do this to me with so little warning, so little explanation (what, your body doesn’t explain things to you? Mine is very vocal). It broke. It made me cry, and I couldn’t stop crying, and it wasn’t just tired grouchy tears, it was near sobbing – my voice croaked and hitched, my face was flooded. My eyes are still sore from it.

I just – I’m almost glad the course is over and I don’t have to go back to it, but I wish I could have finished on a note that didn’t involve me collapsing after being soundly beaten in three fights. And I don’t want my body to do this again. It was scary, not being in control, and not knowing why.

Taking on a Challenge!

2008-03-28T03:09:00.000-07:00

Deus Ex Machina, a writers' forum I help moderate, is holding a series of month-long writing competitions at the moment thanks to yours truly, who in a fit of procrastination decided that looking after a competition would be just the thing to keep me from doing any real work.

Anyway, the current prompt is this: A rich youth who discovers he is actually the son of a lowly blacksmith and how he tries to keep the court from discovering this with the cunning use of cheese, fashionable shoes and a puppet show.

I's just like to say that I put forward that prompt as a joke - more than that, as an example of what not to suggest as a prompt. But it got voted the most popular, so now ...

Well, at least I'm writing.

1,405 words so far.

More than I've written in a long time.

Maybe this whole stupid prompts thing isn't such a bad idea.

Anyone else want to try it with me?

March - Tower of Light Magazine, Aoife's Kiss

2008-03-19T02:29:00.000-07:00

My short story "A Healer's Touch" has been published under the abbreviated title of "Touch" by Tower of Light Magazine. ToL is a relatively new online 'zine, and I've thoroughly enjoyed some of the stories from earlier issues; "A Healer's Touch" is a relatively old story of mine, written in 2006, and - well, why don't you go and read it?

Meanwhile in the world of print, "The Fairy Ring" should now be found in the March '08 (Vol. 6, No. 4) Aoife's Kiss. Strangely, though, I haven't heard from them since I received notification of my acceptance, so no idea what's going on there - can only hope that I'm not the victim of a horrible techy error and am not being published after all. Fingers crossed ...

ETA, a very few minutes later: Oops. My bad. Upon rereading my email from Aoife's Kiss's Tyree Campbell, it would appear that "Thr Fairy Ring" is due for publication in March 2009, not 2008.

...

I swear I really do have decent reading comprehension skills! They just desert me when it'll cause the most trouble ...

Chick Flicks

2008-03-04T01:17:00.000-08:00

Chick Flicks have stopped working for me; or, at least, recent ones have. I haven't enjoyed one properly, haven't had a proper girly "awwwww" at anything more recent than Love Actually, and even that pales in comparison to North and South - something four years old as a mini series but based on a book by Elizabeth Gaskell, for heaven's sake.

Why doesn't this modern presentation of romantic love do it for me? I don't know. Maybe it's the fact that so many of them seem to feature women who have taken the bad path of career, or, in the case of 27 Dresses, selflessness. Maybe it's the fact that these poor, misguided women must be plucked from their distressingly loveless lives by men who are, for the most part, fucking arseholes for most of the film. I guess I find it harder to really love a heroine when she falls head-over-heels with some guy who has shown possession of no qualities save blue eyes and a penchant for what, in the real world, we like to call "stalking."

Or perhaps it's because none of those American chaps are quite as striking as Richard Armitage. Who knows?

In any case, I think it's time for a medicinal dose of that gratuitous bath scene in the Beeb's P&P; or, failing that, a good eyeful of the beautiful, painful courtship of Lord Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane ...

Another March Story

2008-02-28T15:43:00.000-08:00

I just received word from Aoife's Kiss this morning that they plan to publish my short story "The Fairy Ring" in their March issue. That makes two stories of mine being published this March ... and none, so far, after that :D

Hurray!

Oof!

2008-02-26T00:36:00.000-08:00

Raggedy, badly formatted version of Semaphore's next issue completed: Check!

It's come in at 83 pages, but will probably stretch to 86 or so once its done - the intrepid reporter is busy at work writing a bit more for his latest article, or so he informs me.

First issue was 120 pages. I'm kind of glad this one is going to be shorter.

Also, Sherwood Smith gave me a story to put in it! She was one of my absolute favourite authors when I was younger. Yay!

Semaphore stuff

2008-02-25T20:42:00.000-08:00

Ten story submissions already - and still two months until subs close for the June issue. Whew! Am I glad that I've already asked a couple of friends to act as co-editors. It'll make my workload a lot easier...

No news on the writing front. First I was sick, and now there is uni. Woe ... and I know exaclty what I want to write, too!

Updates

2008-02-07T02:01:00.000-08:00

Heh. I've made $11.37 on Project Wonderful for letting advertising space on my website. It only took four moths. Now I have the option to withdraw the money to PayPal, it being over the requisite $10, or just let it fester.

... Fester it is!

Oh, and Semaphore now has a Facebook page, because I was procrastinating. Marvel at it here --> http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=10249902322 . Woo.

Er...

2008-02-01T00:53:00.000-08:00

... Come to think of it, I really shouldn't have counted up the votes until the December issue goes "off the shelves," so to speak ... which isn't until the end of this month.

Sleep is good. Obviously, I should get more.

Hee. Also, just found out today that my favourite old English teacher left a very positive comment on the guestbook. Yay!

You guys should totally take this opportunity to read the magazine, sign the guestbook and fill out the poll. Oh yeah. I would love you for that.

March Semaphore going through the grinders...

2008-02-01T00:28:00.000-08:00

Nyaargh. I've got a 4000-word essay on Female Characters in Harry Potter, Narnia and His Dark Materials due next Friday, and thirty-odd short stories (not to mention poetry and an essay) to slog through for the fifteenth, and my Summer School exam on the sixteenth. I think my Semaphore notes are going to be a bit late this month. Something has to suffer, after all.

Remembering Katie came back with a No after four days. Usual stuff: well-written, but couldn't find a place for it. I use that one myself. When I use it at least it means what it says, but who knows...

Have counted up the survey results for the December issue of Semaphore; Rory's article on Dunedin Tea Abuse ranked highest with an average vote of 5 out of 5, and I was a bit shocked to see that Kate Smith's Glory came bottom with an average of only 3. I really enjoyed that story. Perhaps the low rating is partly a result of it being the last one in the magazine? I know I would have been a bit worn by te time I got to it, but I thought it would make a lively conclusion to the first edition. Ah, well.

Flatting: Am living within my means, and by "means" I mean what I'm earning from part-time work. Haven't touched the loan at all. That's about to change, though; I bought nice (read: dear) food on Monday, have internet and phone bills to pay, and have to buy more nice stuff to make into a plate for potluck on Sunday. Le sigh...

Another shipment out, heigh ho

2008-01-23T18:56:00.000-08:00

I've just sent out three stories for consideration; Remembering Katie, The Fairy Ring and the one about the kiwi, which I've called Zirknopf's Creature for lack of any other inspiration. Fingers crossed, eh?

All the available copies of Semaphore have now been sold, netting me a good nest egg for when the time comes to do another print run - or it would do, if a certain few people would get around to paying me! Grr, friends. Grr.

What ho, then. Onwards to my next lecture.

Whoops

2008-01-09T14:25:00.000-08:00

Oh, right. I have a blog. Whoops.
Truth to tell, though, so many things have been happening lately (even excluding Christmas and New Years’ and their associated terrors) that my blog just ... slipped my mind. Not very good, is it?
Since I’ve last updated, I’ve been to Te Anau for the first time, seen my Australian cousins for the first time in a few years (the one that used to be tall is now short), had a couple of stories thrown back in my face, moved into a flat and started worrying about my weight.
Te Anau was pretty. Glow worms never fail to be awesome.
The cousins were ... Australian. They had strange meal customs to which my family was forced to conform by social propriety. And I got a bit miffed, because I’m an adult now, dammit, I shouldn’t have to wait until everyone else has finished eating before I leave the table. I should be able to go off and read some Donna Leon like other errant adults. Grrr!
I’m a bit meh about the stories. I mean, I liked them, but it doesn’t look like anybody else does. One was Remembering Katie, an experimental piece about a man who has condemned his dead lover’s soul to eternal torment because he can’t remember her except by imagining how he must have died, and the other is The Fairy Ring, with, er, fairies. Ah well. I’ll cast them out again, and if nothing catches hold, I’ll try them at Sheroes Rag or another site made by people from a message board I go on. It’s going to be called Not So Perfekt, and although the name rubs me up the wrong way, they’re planning on featuring stories on the website, so why not give it a go?
Flatting! It’s great fun so far – I can cook pasta and toast like a pro, I haven’t needed to do any washing yet, and I’m intent on ignoring any bills until they actually turn up. Yay!
Worrying about my weight. Well, I’ve always been a stick, but lately I have been becoming less so, and more like a stick with a, inflatable ring around her middle. But my flat is both up a hill and near to Moana Pool, so I should be able to get a good bit of exercise in this year. Unlike every other year of my life.
So, there you have it. Pretty much everything of note that’s happened to me. Now that I’ve remembered this place, I shall be a little less lax about updating it...

Any Doctor Who fans? Very Important Petition to sign!

2007-12-10T02:07:00.000-08:00

I would like to take this moment to ask all of you to sign a petition about something that is very dear to my heart.

By clicking on the link at the bottom of this journal and signing the petition, you will be, let us hope, bringing the world one step closer to the existance of an action figure of Harry Sullivan and the Giant Clam, as seen in all its epic glory in the Doctor Who serial Genesis of the Daleks.

So, please, sign this petition, and make the world a better, clammier, place.

http://www.petitiononline.com/hsatgc/petition.html

Come on! Is srs bznz, guys!

Ho-hum...

2007-12-10T01:30:00.000-08:00

The print run of Semaphore is ready, and I'm going to pick it up tomorrow.

I've yet to decide what to do with three of the donation copies; I'm sending them out to various libraries and so on, but there are three left over. At the moment I'm thinking that I'll send one to my old high school and add another to what I'm giving the uni library, but that still leaves one...

The other ten of my lot are for sale. Five have already gone to pre-order, so that's half left. I'm charging $NZ15.00+p&p apiece, which should, if they all sell, give Semaphore a good nest egg with which to start the new year.

Bit too tired to be overly excited, and the sheer drudgery of seeking out postage charges and billing people is weighing down on me already. Six-day weeks aren't good for me...

First issue!

2007-11-30T22:16:00.000-08:00

Yay! The first issue of my 'zine Semaphore is now available online - you can go straight to the website here, or download it from my LuLu store here.

I'm so happy with everything in this issue, and I hope you're able to download it all right - the computer has been doing some weird things lately, so I hope it hasn't chopped up the files or anything. Should be all right, though; and any problems will be the fault of my lack of techiness, nothing viral.

The print edition should be available sometime in the next fortnight. 30 copies: 10 to mum, and of the other 20, some will be donated to schools and libraries in my area and some will be available for purchase.

Huzzah!

2007-11-30T01:43:00.000-08:00

Reached 50,000 for my NaNo at two forty five this afternoon - am nowhere near the end of the novel itself, but it feels good to have that many words under my belt.

(I'm choosing to ignore the fact that at least 15,000 of those words are going to be immediately scrapped due to the fact the the last 13,000 words I wrote were an insert that has completely changed my MC's motivations and stuff. Fun times)

So... I didn't write every day, not hardly, so I'm going to make up some stats and find out a bunch of averages and tripe like that, see how many hours I wrote for altogether.

How'd everybody else do?

Eek!

2007-11-26T17:52:00.000-08:00

36,000 words.

Haven't written anything in the last three days.

Won't write anything today until v. late at night, as is the boyfriend's last day in Dunedin until her flies home for the holidays.

So - 14,000 words in three days it is! Luckily I can circumvent my current writer's block by writing an exciting insert for an earlier bit in the story, which will help with the bit I'm stuck at.

Phew.

And another tree saved...

2007-11-22T14:54:00.000-08:00

Just received a rejection slip from flashquake for my flash fiction "Remembering Katie." Actually, it took me a while to figure out that it was for this story; flashquake uses a form rejection with short, personalised notes from their two editors, but nowhere in the email did they actually state the title of the story they were rejecting.

"Remembering Katie" was an experimental piece, and I fear that upon re-reading it after all this time I, too, will reject it as maudlin and inconsequential. Nevertheless, as soon as November fades away, I'll be editing it and sending it out again...

I still have three other works submitted elsewhere, with responses projected for around the seventh of December. We'll see what happens with those.

What?! Exam results in...

2007-11-22T14:41:00.000-08:00

I got an A- in Sociology? The subject where I was barely scraping Bs all semester? Oh my god. I mean, I'm happy, but this is nuts.

B- for Spanish, which doesn't hurt as much as it should because I know I did terrible on the exam. And on the internal assessments. Let's face it, I just ballsed up that subject big time.

And an A apiece for NZ lit and Greek Mythology. Bit upset about Classics, because I was speeding along with A-pluses for internal assignments, but it's a decent enough mark. The NZ lit mark brings my average mark for English papers this year to 84%, which is decent enough. Still not sure whether I'll major in Classics or English or both, so I need to keep my head well above water in both subjects.

Next up, Summer School! Which I really should get around to enrolling for...

Half way gone

2007-11-18T16:42:00.001-08:00

Reached 25,000 on my NaNo a few minutes ago. But am I going to stick around and try to catch up all the words I'm behind by? Nope. I'm going to run away to the boyfriend's and watch the Doctor Who Children in Need special with him. Ten AND Five? How could I not?

Also, MC's name has been changed from Aniss to Miraen. Find and Replace for much win. Thank you, Word, for making my indecision that much easier to act upon.

Waargh...

2007-11-14T03:40:00.000-08:00

Hovering somewher around eighteen thousand words for NaNo. Nothing today. Too busy sending out responses to people who submitted to Semaphore.

Nine acceptances.

Untold million of rejections.

And now, feeling awful and dreading the onslaught of injured artistry that horror stories have taught me to expect, I will retire to my bed nursing sore typing-fingers and trying to figure out how to make the Exciting Plotty Stuff happen to Aniss sometime between work, boyfriend-time and my sister's prizegiving tomorrow. Not to mention the fact that I'm not sure whether or not I want to change Aniss' name to Miraen. Isn't it just so much prettier?

Blaaaaargh...

*editor-monster exits stage left, trailing people's broken dreams beneath her feet*

One small step for me

2007-11-07T19:11:00.000-08:00

Broke the nine thousand word barrier around a quarter to twelve last night, and I've challenged myself to reach twelve thousand by the same time tonight. With a short break in the middle for The Dresden Files, because it looks like lots of cracky fun; the movie-length first episode aired last night, but it's Thursdays from now on, taking over from that cool thing with the stuff.

Anyway - NaNo. I'm actually quite happy with how well I've managed to stick to my plan so far; Aniss has been detoured to Enwich castle after Faerie broke through and messed up their travelling plans, and everyone who should be dead, is. Tonight I'm hoping to get her on the road again, because sh has to get to Court sometime, y'know...

Apart from NaNo and having work at silly hours, my brain is on the brink of melting with everythig I have to do for Semaphore. I just realised I hadn't contacted the national library people to ask if I'll be needing a separate ISBN for the print edition (which I bet I do), and two of my possible advertisers have yet to get back to me. On the plus side, though, I've received an absolutely beautiful front cover from my artist, and the back one shouldn't be too far off. Money is fine, as what isn't covered by advertising I can pay for out of my paycheck, which is billowing a bit with all my extra hours. So, not all bad, but still pretty stressful all the same!

EDIT: Whoops. You know how I said "nine thousand" up there? Well, I should have said "eight thousand." And my goal, therefore, also loses a thousand words. I've still broken the 10k mark, though! One fifth of the way there!

Done and dusted

2007-11-06T20:22:00.000-08:00

Well, my exams are all done with - were done with on Monday, in fact, but I haven't been able to log on to Blogger until now (obv. blogspot is trying to urge me towards NaNo by stopping me from procrastinating with it. This was not a successful ploy, as the rest of the internets still exist).

I passed the 5000 words mark for my NaNo yesterday, and as soon as I've finished this entry... and checked my comics... and some message boards... I'll be writing again.

So far, there have been two (possible three) deaths, a lot of travelling, and we've discovered just how crap our heroine is in emergencies. Poor little castle-bred thing has no survival skills whatsoever :D

Oops...

2007-11-02T18:58:00.003-07:00

I'm sorry, everybody.

I did it. I promised myself I wouldn't, but I still did.

I started my NaNo before I had finished my exams.

I wrote 2444 words.

I will never be able to look myself in the face again!

--

In other news, only one exam to go, and Sociology didn't go as badly as I'd expected - not feeling too good about Spanish, though, but ... eh.

One down, three to go

2007-10-30T16:07:00.000-07:00

Well, I did my NZ Lit exam yesterday, and it went quite well. My hand still, hurts a bit, though; I've been writing and typing so much lately that I think I'm getting OOS or something - sore tendons etc. May have to resort to toe-typing for NaNo.

Well, I've still got three exams to go. The last one is next Monday, the fifth, so I won't be starting NaNo until then anyway. I must not evade studying by starting before then...

For the rest of you participants, though, tomorrow is the big day, and I wish you the best of luck! I look forward to seeing lots of screaming frustration in all your blogs when your stories run off in their own directions and all your planning proves to be for naught :P

As for the flatting situation, I've found somewhere nice, and the only issue is that the lease starts on 1.1.08 but I'll be on holiday until at least the 8th; I'm trying to organise it so that I don't have to pay rent until I'm actually able to move in, but we'll see what happens.

No writing...

2007-10-28T20:56:00.000-07:00

Not allowed. Must study more. First exam tomorrow, then two awful ones on Friday, then lovely Greek Mythology on Monday. So no writing for me.

Somewhat at odds with my vows to spend every hour of the day studying is the fact that I'm also looking at flats at the moment. Hasn't gone so well thus far: I went to one and discovered I'd been misled over several things by the landlady, and passed on another look-in because the landlord was flighty. I'm heading off to look at another one now; the listing calls it "quaint," which I'm hoping is not code for small and damp.

:(

Sold!

2007-10-24T19:35:00.000-07:00

Well it's not as good as wood pulp, but next March I hope you will all expend some electricity by going over to the Tower of Light Fantasy Magazine and reading my story "A Healer's Touch." I sent in the requested, revised version last night, and this morning I received conformation that it's been accepted and that Mr Southard believes that my story will "surely make a fine addition to Tower of Light."

... It's hard, but I'm not going to update the Shelf until it's actually been published. March is a log way away, and a lot of things could happen between now and then, so I'm going to leave it be until my story's on Mr Southard's website.

Hurray!

My first sale, too - actually getting money for this writing thing is going to be a bit weird.

Excellent News!

2007-10-22T17:04:00.000-07:00

I've just been told that my grant application was successful: OUSA is giving me $250.00 to publish a limited-edition print run of the first issue of Semaphore! This is fantastic news - I was beginning to think that I hadn't got it after all, but they were just a bit slow with informing people :D

Now, though, the work starts - I've got to actually get the money, for one thing, which means that in a few minutes I'll be battling my way through the wind to walk into town; I've got to confirm with UniPrint what, exactly, I need to provide to be printed; I've got to confirm with the artist I've contacted that they'll still be able to do cover art; and, or course, there's the whole veting which stories, poems etc I'll actually be putting in the issue.

Hooray! Work AND exams! What could be more fun?

Oh, yes, and... (publishing)

2007-10-21T03:35:00.001-07:00

... On the publishing standpoint, I've just had a short story rejected by Tower of Light Magazine. I did not receive a rejection slip, as the man who runs the mag had tech troubles; I found out when I realised the response was overdue and, after a bit of shuffling, found that the issue I had submitted to had been published.

Oh well.

The story, for those of you who are interested, is called "A Healer's Touch." I wrote it last year for a competition on NaNo, in which it received second place, winning me a three month subscription. Belated yays! Unfortunately it's had significantly less luck on the marketplace (this rejection makes five!). This lack of success is probably due to its nature and style - it's a vaguely thriller-ish historical fantasy with elements of romance, written in twee bodice-ripper style.

Anyway, I was wondering if anybody would like to join me in making a database of our experiences with different markets? Just an idea.

Very Important Edit: Aargh! Apparently, the editor of Tower of Light wasn't as incommunicado as I'd thought, and is expressing interest in "A Healer's Touch." Interest which, for some reason, amde its way straight to my junk mail folder.

Oh, Gmail, why do you do this to me? Whyyyyyyyy?

NaNo and Exhaustion

2007-10-21T03:27:00.000-07:00

So - at the moment I work part time at a books and stationery store, usually around 13 hours a week. With uni, that's fine; a full workload, but I seem to have more free time than I did even last year during seventh form.

During the Christmas break, my boss wants me to switch to full time work. During NaNo. Now, I realise I'm whinging here, and that most people doing NaNo will be working too, but I'm going to be a bit put out by this. I've already got exams up until the fifth, so that's five days lost, and with full time work - 8.30/9 to 7 on weekdays leading up until Christmas - I'm going to be exhausted by the time I get home. I'll need to lay down and just turn off my brain for a few hours once I get home just to regain the energy to be sociable with my family, let alone be able to write - and then I'll need to go to bed early to be fresh and happy in the morning for another day's work. God damn my useless body.

So basically, I'm thinking I'll be able to get two hours a day of writing, maximum. And given how much "writing" time I spend just sitting in front of a keyboard with my mouth open and the drool collecting ... this isn't good.

So, what should I do? Speed-write utter crap in the two hours I have, or stay up until one writing each day and be a zombie at work?

Whinging about NaNo (and it's only October!)

2007-10-09T03:47:00.000-07:00

Apologies for being incommunicado for so long; life got in the way, in that irritating way it does. In this case Life took the form of end-of-semester exhaustion, and I’ve been spending every free minute spaced out on the nearest available horizontal surface. Drooling may have occurred. Now that I am temporarily awake, I come bearing a challenge, a whinge and several questions. Let’s get the whinging over with first; I’ll come back to the others in subsequent entries. That way, my posts won’t be so afflicted with tl;dr.Nah, let’s not kid ourselves. This is going to be long no matter what I do. Let’s just get it over with:

NaNo.

I had an idea. I had what I thought was a great idea, if not a particularly original one: I’d write a novella based in a world where our Fairy Tales and Folklore and so on are actual history and have shaped the cultures of the different countries and regions. There would be institutionalised Heroism, rigid patterns of Heroic behaviours, and catacombs full of records of the exploits of every Hero since the days of the legendary Jack the Giant-Killer. The story would follow a third-born prince on his quest to rescue a Guild-approved damsel. There would be hijinks, antidisestablishmentarianism and magic hats. The damsel would have a Secret. It would have been fun.

But I don’t want to write it any more. I’ve worn to threads the plot elements that first attracted me to the idea while leaving gaping holes where others should be; my Hero has no personality and my Damsel too much for what she is (Ooh, Secret!); the plot itself is a rambling mess with no clear direction, no clear antagonist, and no really exciting things. The whole idea needs a complete do-over, which is something I just don’t have time for right now.

Good thing I have a few other ideas, right, right? Bah!

My first back-up idea I would take near NaNo if you hit me with a standard-sized stick. Its themes are too serious, its world and background requires too much real-world research, and if I rush through the first 50k words of it I’ll just end up fizzling out. This story is one I want to leave to ripen and mature slowly in my mind, then write out with care and attention. Lack of deadlines is essential.

The second idea is a goer. Or it will be, if it doesn’t go the same way as the Fairy Tale-World one. It began as a generic romance story, but I’ve melded it with a world I’ve had simmering on the back-burner for a few weeks and it fits well. Even better, the characters are characters, not cardboard stand-ins, and the plot flows, with a definite series of small events leading inexorably to a climactic one. Characters have motivations! Separate characters have distinct stories and goals! Some of them even have names!

But there are still (about) twenty days until NaNo starts, and therefore (about) twenty-six days until I start writing. What will I do if I lose this one?

Wooooooooooooooooooe.

Anyway, whinge over. Actually, that turned out reasonable well, with the whole actually-have-more-plotbunnies thing. If it wasn’t for my fear that I’ll abandon all interest in this one, too... Eh. Hopefully exams will eat my brain in sufficient quantities that it will be unable to wear down my excitement for Aniss and Geasborn before the 6th of November.

Glee at Prospective Death of Trees

2007-09-26T01:56:00.000-07:00

Now I know why I got into this (self-imposed, unpaid, money-leeching) job!

(said job being sole operator of lit webzine Semaphore, for those of you who have missed all the shameless plugging I've been doing)

After what I unfortunately have to call a few godawful pieces of work arriving in my inbox, I've finally received a couple of stories that, even as a general reader, completely hooked me. I mean, I've received and said "Ooh, shiny" over other submissions, but there's just something about the atmosphere evoked, the storytelling, the characters and narrative - eee! I'm so happy. Happy happy happy. These are the sorts of stories that make me hope even more that my funding application goes through, that I get sponsorship for a print edition just so that I can hold it in my hands and say, look, look what I have!

Anyway, so happy that I bothered to bother you all with this. Plug plug, still open for submissions until the end of next month, http://www.freewebs.com/semaphoremagazine , still a bit low on poetry and creative articles/essays.

< / shameless, shameless plugging >

I should probably say more about Semaphore, because although some of you will have heard of it already, I've never actually mentioned it here in the blog.

Semaphore is the (currently solely web-based) quarterly literary magazine I started up about a month ago. Or possibly only at the begining of this month. Time goes slowly. I offer a small token payment (maximum of $4.50) as payment for stories, poems, comics etc, and this December will see the debut issue.

As for the funding thing - I've applied to OUSA, my university's student association, for funding. If all goes well, they will pay for contributors' costs for the first two issues and for a limited print run of 20 perfect-bound copies of the magazine. Fingers crossed, wot?

A Shared Universe

2007-09-23T14:58:00.000-07:00

I recently came across an e-zine that works around the conceit that it only contains stories based in a particular fantasy world created in part by the magazine's editors and in part by the writers themselves. This idea of co-creation intrigued me: imagine a writing community where participants all contribute to the 'verse's canon literature, who create and use and share each others' cultures, cities, characters and histories.

It's almost comparable to fan fiction, but is theoretically less hierarchical: instead of one Author, you have a communal group of Authors, all of whom's creations are canon, not fanon. Of course you would end up with BNF's, that's just plain to be expected, but I think that the idea of a communally-created fantasy world which is constantly being added onto and extended is very interesting.

Cynic that I am, I have to add that what I think would be most intereting is seeing it turn into an authorial dictatorship. BNF's, or their equivalent, would have the greatest authority in shaping people's ideas about the world, stifling originality and deviancy; the editors would restrict acceptance of works according to their own kinks and squicks; flame wars of fantastic magnitude would arise from people using other people's characters in ways the creator doesn't like.

It would be great fun.

Still plugging away

2007-09-18T20:00:00.000-07:00

I'd like to take this opportunity - and what an opportunity it is, with you lot completely unable to stop me from saying my share - to introduce a few fellow bloggers. In keeping with the theme of this blog, they are both writers, and their blogs centre on issues to do with writing and publishing.

Marie, as well as stealing my name (how she did this while being a year older than me I have no idea; the cunning fox), is another English student. Unlike me, this Other!Marie is going to use her studies to take courses on creative writing and actually, y'know, learn about the craft - me, I'm just going to take Classics and be damned with practical application.

You can find Marie's blog, the lake is with me, at http://the-lake-is-with-me.blogspot.com/ (funny, that).

Cassie has been doing this blogging thing for ages. Let's see - this is my fourth post; she's got sixty-five. I bet she'd reeeeeally like it if you took the time to look at every single one of her posts and comment on them with deep and meaningful thoughts. I bet she'd love that. Go give the pink blog some love at http://vyanae.blogspot.com/ .

But enough about other people - notthat there's much to say about me, of course. Finished another story since my last post, came in at around 6300 words. Will spend a good few hours polishing it and then put it out on the rounds.

Read quite an interesting artice the other day about publishing. Haven't been able to find it since, of course, but very interesting it was nonetheless. Talked about how amateur writers should start by submitting to the more well-known markets, so that when they make their mark there they can go down to the smaller magazines and such and offer them a chance to become more well-known by publishing an already famous author. ~~Previous experience notwithstanding~~ I think I'll try it.

On daftness

2007-09-09T20:04:00.000-07:00

It was very silly of me to start this journal a week before I had two major essays due and an in-class test hovering over my shoulder. Quite a mistake. I should have thought this out further than the whole hey-I'm-getting-published-let's-start-on-an-upnote thing that I ended up going with.

So. I've got a couple more pieces out there waiting for form rejections to add to the old pile, but none of them are likely to come back until November.

In the meantime, I'm busy world- and character-building for NaNo this year, trundling through preparations for another novel, and scribbling out short pieces in which nothing really happens.

... Holidays now, please?

Day Three and no trees were hurt in the production of this publication

2007-09-04T20:28:00.000-07:00

I have to admit that this idea was shamelessly stolen from Bill O’Brien. Mr O’Brien is an ex-cop turned author who challenged himself to fill an entire bookshelf with his published works (one copy of each, to make things harder) by the time he either died or retired. Now the author of numerous articles and several books, including Aramoana: 22 Hours of Terror, Bill is well on the way to fulfilling his self-set challenge.

My bastardised version of this challenge is a book shelf – and a picture of one, at that, not a real one – containing twenty books. When all the books have been coloured in (i.e., when I have had twenty pieces of work published in any market except self-publishing), I get a prize. Not sure what that prize is, yet, but it will probably involve ThinkGeek.com and a credit card.

Anyway, here it is. The Shelf of Success, complete with my first two publications of the challenge. Details below the picture; I would love it if you’d take the time to check out my two pieces, which can be found in the Short Stories and Poetry sections of the magazine’s website. After all, it’s all electronic: no trees were harmed in the publication of this work. Cross my heart.

Yes, I realise that the picture is shoddy to the nth degree and so big that one end of it fell off. I'll scratch out a nicer one sometime next week

--

LOG:

04.09.07

Title: "Just So"
Text Type: Flash
Publication: Sheroes Rag
Payment: N/A

“Just So” is a flash fiction about abuse, and has been previously published twice in the ODT (my regional newspaper) as a result of winning first place in their annual young writers’ competition.

Title: Not living but breathing
Text Type: Poem
Publication: Sheroes Rag
Payment: N/A

“Not living but breathing” has not previously been professionally published.

--

MARKET NOTE: Sheroes Rag is a non-paying, not-for-profit e-zine run by several members of Sheroes Central, a discussion site dedicated to women’s issues, current events, debates and quite a bit of madness. They have a slow-moving but friendly Writing Discussion forum, and their sister site Sheroes Fans has a protected critique forum. This September issue was Sheroes Rag's debut, and I was happy to be a part of it.

I would recommend Sheroes Rag to any authors with short pieces of fiction, poetry, articles or reviews that they don't mind being published unpaid. In my opinion, small publishers like this should be supported; just as the world always needs new, talented writers, so it needs a good many markets for those writers to be published in.

--

LINKS OF THE DAY:
Sheroes Rag: http://www.freewebs.com/sheroesrag
Sheroes Central: http://www.sheroescentral.com
Sheroes Fans: http://www.sheroesfans.com

Day One and all the trees are safe

2007-09-02T21:52:00.000-07:00

There's no way around it.

No way to reconcile my love for trees with my dream of having a forest of them felled to print my miraculously best-selling books on. It's a good thing banknotes are made out of plastic these days, or I'd have additional worries about the ecological cost of the pools of money that feature so often in these dreams. This still leaves me with the problem of the books, though.

Oh well.

Like I said, there's no way around it.

All I can hope for is that when the time comes to make the ultimate sacrifice, it's the pines that get the chop. Serves them right for destroying my sinuses every spring.

In other news, welcome to my blog. My name's Marie, would-be published author (reasonably) extraordinaire, and this is where I'll be logging my progress in getting stories published and, perhaps, doing a bit of damage to the foliage on the side. After all, this is the age of the internet; not all publishing is done in dead tree format.

- Marie

Next up: The Shelf of Success