S.L. Viehl's Blog, page 74

What's Your Sign's Gift?

Kelli Fox has an interesting article here with holiday gift suggestions based on your recipient's zodiac sign. I never considered gift-giving from this angle, so I checked out my sign (Cancer) and saw it started with an excellent suggestion:

Something you made yourself that represents comfort and connection, such as a personal framed photograph or basket of spiced muffins, will be extra meaningful

Yes, absolutely. Handmade gifts of any kind are wonderful. This year I've been hand-making most of my own holiday gifts; I also adore gifts that are made of recycled or repurposed materials.

As for the rest of her suggestions:

Photo album filled with family pictures -- I'm the family photographer, so they'd have to raid my computer, but I'd certainly like this one.

Genealogy software or a framed family tree -- Not a happy gift for someone who is adopted, unfortunately.

Velvet throw pillows -- I do love velvet, but it's a pet hair magnet. Also doesn't really go with any room in my house.

A wine rack stocked with a few choice bottles -- Unless your recipient, like me, doesn't use alcohol; then it's going to be a very pricey rack of kitchen drain cleaner. Actually, the wine rack could be repurposed as a yarn or fabric rack (or stocked with exotic, non-alcoholic drinks, maybe?)

Gift certificate to a home décor or improvement store -- me not so much, but my guy would definitely use it.

A cookbook or gift certificate to a favorite restaurant -- Yes on the cookbook, particularly anything vegetarian, low-fat and/or sugar- or lactose-free. I'm picky about restaurants, though, so pass on the GC.

I think any zodiac-based gift suggestions should inspire rather than be used an absolute guide, too. After inspecting the best gifts for my sign I checked out the suggestions in the article for some members of my family based on their signs. Only one thing listed for my daughter's sign would work for her, and absolutely nothing listed for my guy would actually suit him.

Do you have a unique way of choosing gifts for your recipients? Let us know in comments.

Hello 2034 Me

Upload a photo of yourself to this ageing simulator generator, and you'll be able to see (and even talk to) a composite of your future self.

Here is what I'm supposed to look like at age 73:



It's not terribly accurate; my eyes are quite a bit lighter, my ears don't stick out, and my natural hair color right now is much whiter than hers (maybe future me has it dyed to the salt and pepper look?) I think I'll have a few more wrinkles and jowls, too, but that helmet hairdo? Ah, no. Never.

(Link swiped from Gerard over at The Presurfer)

Gift No-Nos

Yes, it's officially holiday shopping season, so I thought I'd kick off December with

Ten Things I Don't Want For Christmas

Body-Fat Caliper: Very funny. This will get you gifted in return that home high colonic kit.

Books: As much as I'm sure I'd appreciate My Love Will Conquer Your Sadism or Amish Girl Stripper or the latest SF ripoff of Dick, Lem, Piper or Star Trek, how about a bookstore gift card instead?

Candy, Chocolate, or Sugar of Any Variety: It's been a decade since my doctor took sugar and sweets away from me, and yet every year some editor sends me that tower of chocolate thing I have to immediately donate. Stop it.

Exotic Teas: Yes, I am a tea lover. No, I do not want to make pots of vitaminized green tea infused with the essence of butternut squash. If you're still determined to tea me, go with decaf black, a single fruit flavor, or spiced chai.

Fur Anything: Not that I want to step on anyone's fur-loving toes, but I think we've evolved past the need to kill an animal in order to keep warm, yes?

House Plants: The cat eats them, and then throws up, usually on my bed pillow.

Massage Gift Certificate: Let's see, the relaxing chance to go to a little strip mall shop, take off all my clothes and lay face-down on an unsanitized, cracked vinyl mat while a person I don't know touches and pummels me? Pass.

Sexy Satin PJs: I'm not in the especially sexy stage of life, they're slippery, and during the night I tend to gravitate toward the edge of the bed. Plus my darling pup Skye sleeps on a quilt on the floor next to my side of the bed and if I fall, it's on top of her. P.S., I don't actually wear PJs.

Tattoo Parlor Gift Certificate: Ever wonder why I still don't have a tattoo? Ask my mom what she'll do to me if I ever get one.

Writer Novelties: I probably already own it. Yeah, even those lend-a-pens with the STD treatment clinic imprints.

What gift don't you want for the holidays? Let us know in comments.

Finish Line Thoughts

Today is the final day of NaNoWriMo 2014, and if I'm not yet at the 50K finish line I hope to cross it by 11:59 pm.* Pretty sure I will; just before I wrote this post I flew past 45K after an uber creative writing session. Which is why I want to write this post now (today is the 23rd, actually) -- I had my best writing day of the month. Finished and turned in the first phase of Ghost Writer Gig II, then nailed my 2K NaNo novel daily goal *and* bailed my characters out of a sticky plot problem *and* found/created a new room in Netherfield. This is about as high as this kite gets, my friends.

I'm still tired, and somewhat annoyed with Publishing, and really, really behind on my holiday prep and household chores. NaNo combined with my day jobs should have me finishing the month with 112K of new fiction written since November 1st, which now seems a bit surreal. Before Nano began I was having trouble writing a thousand words a day; this month I've averaged almost four times that -- and I don't know why, other than doubling up on my writing sessions and letting the NaNo madness and my writing buddies inspire me. Well, being able to actually see again might have helped a little.

Maybe I should give the eyes most of the credit. I almost went blind this year. I was basically blind for the month between my two eye surgeries, when I couldn't write or read or drive or do much of anything. I had a lot of time to sit around and think about what my life would be like if those operations didn't work, too. Trading in my silver cane for a white one. Going to Braille classes. Giving up my books, my sewing, my car. Having to relearn how to do everything by touch. Never again seeing the faces of the people I love.

You know I've never been afraid of the dark, but this year? I learned how.

So I don't care that I'm tired, or that I had to juggle work and NaNo, or that I'm probably going to spend December doing all my housework and shopping while in a partial coma. No matter what happens, I still get to see it happen. There is also one more daily reminder for me to be grateful for my restored sight. This month we found out that our beloved rescue kitty, Jericho, is going blind, and there's nothing the vet can do to stop it. So we're going to pamper him and love him and make sure he knows we're here for him. And I wil remember that could be me.

I would like to thank everyone here who cheered on me and my writer pals, and my NaNo writing buddies, who always came through with a note to me at the exactly the right time. You truly are the best.

Now let's finish this.

*Actually finished up on Wednesay, but wrote this post before that, which is confusing but there you go.

Sub Op

New SF e-zine Terraform is looking for short fiction: "Submissions for ​Terraform are open to the public, and the ask is simple: We're looking for 2,000 words or fewer—a nice, digestible internet length—of speculative fiction honing in on the tech, science, and future culture topics driving the zeitgeist. We're looking especially for nearer-future fiction; think more sentient chat bots or climate-changed dystopias and less far-flung space operas. And we don't care what form it comes in: Classic-style SF short stories, social media posts from beyond the horizon, fictive data dumps, experimental graphic narratives, and so on. Our baseline rate is $0.20 a word. Remember, we'll publish one new story every week." No reprints, electronic submissions only, see guidelines for more details.

Finally!

Here's a lovely short film about a quest to understand music (with equally lovely music in the background, for those of you at work):

Understand Music from finally. on Vimeo.

Wishing You

It's Official

As of 7:30 pm tonight:

This

A writer is a world trapped in a person. -- Victor Hugo

We're four days out from the finish line of NaNoWriMo 2014, and hopefully everyone has made some gratifying progress toward their writing goals. I know some of you are thinking now that you won't make 50K, and that's okay. Really.

Making the big goal is nice -- very nice -- but you aren't a loser if you have to deal with life instead of writing, or the story you chose to write isn't working for you, or whatever else keeps you from stepping into the official winner's circle this year. Losing Jak, one of my beloved rescue cats, kept me from finishing NaNo back in 2010; as it happens when I reached the end of the month I hadn't even make the halfway point. Still, I was very proud of what I did manage to write that year, and it helped me through a horrible time.

Earlier I was cruising around the NaNoWriMo forums when I found in the You know you're a writer when . . . topic one of those so-true-it-hurts comments:

"Every song is about your characters." (posted by crossing)

Every song is, actually -- I can't listen to music without applying it to a character in some story I'm writing or have written or want to write. Even music I don't care for eventually becomes theme songs for my antagonists. Same goes for art; I'm always thinking which of my people would own this painting or that sculpture (I once had an epiphany about Lucan from the Darkyn novels while wandering around a glass-blower's booth at an art show; that's where his Shatter talent was actually born.)

It doesn't stop there. When I cook I think about recipes that would please my characters, and when I shop I check out the latest fashions to dress my younger, hipper crews. In reality I can't cook or shop for them (that's the line into Writer LaLaLand I won't cross) but thinking about it is natural. My characters are with me everywhere I go, as they have been since I was eight years old and wrote my first story. They may not be real, but they're mine and I'm the one who knows them best and they belong to me as nothing else in life has.

Which is why all the songs are about them, and all the art revolves around them, and everything that teases my imagination in some way goes to them. Because I belong to them, too.

Any last thoughts on NaNoWriMo 2014? Let us know in comments.

Canadian Sub Op

Here's an open call for Canadian writers only to submit steampunk short stories for the upcoming Clockwork Canada anthology: "I am interested in all permutations of Steampunk, including Boilerpunk, Clockpunk, Gaslight Romance, Raygun Gothic, Stitchpunk, and other variations. Stories must be set in Canada. There are no restrictions on the time period, though technology should be limited to pre-twentieth century. I want to see Canadian takes on classic Steampunk elements, but I would also like to see more than just steam technology. I highly recommend reading Amal El-Mohtar’s excellent article, Towards a Steampunk Without Steam, for inspiration in this respect: http://www.tor.com/blogs/2010/10/towa.... Many great Steampunk stories interrogate and engage with historical and cultural elements in their setting. In particular, we often see the exploration of characters and stories that were ignored by dominant historical narratives. Although alternate history is a large component of Steampunk, be aware of Canadian history and utilize it or rework it in original ways. For example, how would the proliferation of more capable steamships and airships have altered immigration in Canada? How would the western expansion, the Trans-Canada Railway, and the Underground Railroad have been affected by alternate forms of transportation? I am looking for stories that explore diverse settings with all manner of characters: Aboriginals, Francophones, senior citizens, LGBTQIAs, PoC, etc." Length: 2-8K; Payment: "5 cents/word for original fiction and a contributor’s copy." On reprints: "will be considered if the story has appeared in journals and magazines, but NOT in book form (collections, anthologies, etc.). Payment for reprints is 2 cents per word. Indicate where the story was first published and when in the cover letter. Reprint stories must also be set in Canada." Electronic submissions only, see guidelines for more details. Reading period opens" Reading period: December 1st, 2014 (don't submit stories before this date.) Deadline: April 30th, 2015.