JoSelle Vanderhooft's Blog, page 2

O Wisconites!

I'm still looking for essays for this year's WisCon Chronicles. Guidelines are linked here: http://wiscon.livejournal.com/364905.html

The submissions have been great so far, but I don't have quite the number I'd hoped to at this point in the process. Remember: 1) your submission doesn't have to be disability related even though the theme of this year's Chronicles is disability. 2) You don't have to have your essay ready. I just want to hear pitches. :)

Also 3) OMG U GUYS I NEED PANEL WRITE UPS! There were so many good ones this year and I was able to go to absolutely zero :(

Ahem. :)

Ghostwriting Project II: Electric Boogaloo

So, I hate to ask this because I feel like I'm asking people to do my homework for me. But I've been trying for days and I haven't found anything so...

Does anyone know any anti-bullying resources out there for people of color? For people with disabilities? For example, LGBTQ folks have It Gets Better, GLSEN, and the Trevor Project (and Lambda Legal to assist if you're the victim of workplace bullying). As far as I can tell there are no equivalent organizations for POC or PWD. Am I missing something huge, or even something not so huge? It really saddens me to think that I am, especially as POC and PWD are overwhelmingly targeted for bullying in education and the workplace.

Anyway, I'm asking because I'm finishing up a book for a client about bullying and I'm trying to put together a kick ass resource page. And so far the resource page is pretty white and abled.

Also, I'm still looking for a few people to interview for the book. If you'd like to share your experiences with bullying and what you did about it, shoot me a line at jo.vanderhooft @ gmail.com. I'd love to talk with you! And you can remain anonymous/pseudonymous. So far, I really don't have many men in the book and no genderqueer folks at all, and I wish I could change that.

upstart_crow @ 2012-07-05T12:24:00

Today I need to remind myself that my life WILL right itself soon, and that I WILL be able to get back to completing the three novels and proposal for a YA trilogy I was in the middle of when I got fired and had to run full-tilt into a new full-time career. I've got to be--cringe--optimistic about that instead of my usual pessimistic self.

Trouble is, I have very little training in being optimistic about anything, and my brain naturally makes about 75% of things feel hopeless and impossible on a good idea. Heck, I didn't pursue freelancing full-time until I basically had no other choice because I was convinced that only a handful of very lucky people actually did it. (Funny, I know, but that's what a depressed brain often does.)

I've really, really missed writing, and I feel like I'll be calmer, easier to live with, and more talkative in general when I can do it again.

What's new?

Today I'm editing and writing on two projects, finishing up my weekly horror columns for a site that should be premiering this year (I can't wait to announce!), doing some Femmes edits, and preparing to take the cat to the vet for his bi-annual thyroid level check. He's had hyperthyroidism now since...oh, 2009 or so, I think, so we have to do this regularly. I'm hoping that his levels are sound, both for the sake of his health and mine. Neither of us really needs any new stress in our lives right now, I think!

How are you, LJ? What's going on as we slide into the 4th of July weekend? I'll be working for most of it, as is the case for just about every holiday this year, but I am looking forward to a dinner at my mother and father-in-law's house. How about you? Curious Jo is curious.

(Yes, that is Oscar in the icon. This picture is seven years old, though. He's thinner now, his fur less silky and smooth. Then again, he was only about 6-7 in this photo, so that's expected!)

Fundraiser for Mary Kristene Chapa's Medical Bills

Originally posted by wordweaverlynn at Fundraiser for Mary Kristene Chapa's Medical BillsThanks to dsmoen .

(Please repost if you're so inclined)

Many of you may have heard about the teen lesbian couple shot in Texas. One of them, Mollie Judith Olgin, was killed; the other, Mary Kristene Chapa, survived but has hospital bills.

A family member has erected a fundraising site for Chapa's medical expenses. If you can do so, I'm sure she'd appreciate the help.

This entry was originally posted at http://wordweaverlynn.dreamwidth.org/572412.html. Please comment here if you want, or there using OpenID. Or send em a message via carrier pigeon or fortune cookie. I'm dying to hear from you.

Rainbow oreo cookie

Okay, so this was just an ad and isn't an actual cookie, right?

An apology

I'm not really sure if this should be on a public filter or a friends' only filter, but in the end I've decided that friends only was probably better. I think everyone who this effects can read it on this filter, anyway. Okay, on further reflection, I'm making it public just to be safe.

ETA: Because there's been some confusion in comments I've been getting: this isn't specifically a post about friends who I've just fallen out of touch with because I've been overwhelmed with starting up a freelance business and ill (though their feelings are just as important to me), but a post about people (many of them also friends) in a work/writing/editing relationship with me who have been depending on me for edits or correspondence I have been bad at providing. I hope this clears that up and isn't overexplaining and doesn't sound wrong.

This is kind of hard for me to do, not because I'm reluctant to do it, but because I always seem to misjudge these things, say something wrong, and upset people even further. Please understand. I'm trying to word everything as carefully as possible while feeling pretty anxious and depressed (and feeling the beginnings of a tension headache). But I really didn't want to leave this alone until I felt better. This year, for one thing, "better" hasn't been for more than a few days at a time. For another, I didn't want to chicken out.

Okay. So.

I know I've been difficult to reach since November of last year, and I know that I've been particularly hard to reach the past few months. There are a lot of reasons for this, but you all(or mostly all) probably know what they are. I thought I was being upfront in explaining what was going on, and I thought I was trying my best. But recently it's come to my attention that a few people I care deeply about and respect a lot were really hurt and/or angered by my silence or lateness in replying. Or thought that I was deliberately ignoring them. Or thought that I was just being irresponsible. Or thought a few other things that I probably haven't heard yet or haven't fully understood.

I'm sorry. Deeply sorry about making any of you feel this way and for any problems or upset I caused you. And I admit fully that, while I thought I was doing my best at the time to handle some pretty intense situations (job loss, worsening health, etc.), that I could have done a lot better, been way more communicative, and probably saved everyone a good deal of grief if I hadn't taken on so many projects to begin with. I've been aware that I overload myself with work for quite sometime, and I've been trying to do better at NOT doing that. And I know I've failed, and failed you. I wish that I could go back to November of last year (or maybe even sooner; September would have been nice) and change nearly everything I did. Starting with going on a higher dose of anxiety meds immediately.

But I can't. And all I can do now is move forward.

I understand completely if you don't forgive me, or if you never want to talk to me or work with me again. I hope that you will forgive me and still want to stay friends, of course, but I know I don't necessarily deserve that, and of course that it's not my call to make.

I'm sorry if any part of this apology comes across as excuse-making, or insincere, or defensive. Again, I've tried to word it to come across as sincere, non-excuse making and honest as I feel, but I know I may have failed. In any case, I'm not posting this for reassurance that y'all aren't mad at me or hurt, and I'm not posting it to get support or to be told "no no, Jo, you didn't hurt me!" The long and short of it is that I know I have severe problems handling stress/anxiety, and organization, and probably a host of other things I am unaware or only partly aware of. I'm not entirely sure how to fix everything, but I'm reading as much as I can about time management, and anxiety, as I can, and it's practically all my therapist and I talk about anymore.

I'm leaving comments open, but screening them in case anyone wants what they say to me to be private. You can also reach me at upstart.crow@ gmail, same as always. I'll respond to every message there, but can't respond to comments here without unscreening them. You can say whatever you want, and I promise I won't be defensive or snappish, and I will take what you say to heart.

A few links --Lethe Press sale and Mike Allen book!

Two things to promote today.

First: Wizards Tower Books is having an awesome Pride Month sale on Lethe Press titles! There's some awesome stuff here, including Catherine Lundoff's past works, her latest short story collection, and her novel Silver Moon. Which, as some of you may know, began as a novella in my lesbian werewolf anthology Bitten by Moonlight. I haven't had a chance yet to read the expanded version, but I know it's great. And I know you should get it.

If I may also point out, you can also find another familiar face at the sale. Me! Yes. Heiresses of Russ, the "best of" lesbian spec fic anthology Steve Berman and I edited last year, is there too, at a good discount.

Now for the slightly uncomfortable part. I was...um. Significantly less than awesome about promoting Heiresses when it came out late last year, due to a life situation I've blogged about before and won't bore you with again. I really deeply regret this, not only because I feel like I neglected a baby, but because this is one of the best books I've ever been involved in. Every story in this is strong and beautiful, and a wonderful expression of the diversity of women who love women. Some of them are by familiar faces, like Catherine and Rachel Swirsky, and Steve Berman (his story in this is hands-down the best lesbian story I have EVER read, and I wish I'd edited the book it appeared in), and Ellen Kushner. Others are by newer faces like Nora Olsen, Zen Cho (of Steam-Powered 2 fame), and Csilla Kleinheincz (who is known more in Hungary than in the USA). I really do hope you check it out, even though I should have told you to much, much sooner.

In fact. If you do, tell me here. I don't usually do this anymore because I lack the time and spoons, but I was designing a necklace based on Rachel Swirsky's Nebula Award-winning piece "The Lady Who Plucked Red Flowers Beneath the Queen's Window." It was half-finished when the stuff that went down went down, and I've been dying to complete it. I'll do so and post a picture. Buy a copy (at Wizards Tower, please!), and tell me about it here, and I'll enter you in a drawing to win it. :) I can actually get to the post office now that I can actually get to it during the hours it's actually open (why South Florida's POs are never open when people aren't working, I will never understand.) To tantalize you, the materials are: red glass flowers, garnets, lots of silver, and some very nifty scrabble tiles...

But you'll just have to guess at the rest for now. In any case, yeah. Heiresses was a finalist for this year's Golden Crown Literary Award along with Hellebore & Rue, which I edited with Catherine Lundoff (who is now all over this post). Neither placed, but I was very honored to have them appear on the list and regret how distracted I've been to have not told you about this honor.
2) Sleepless, Burning Life, timeshark 's amazing novelette that appeared in Steam-Powered I is now a stand-alone book over at Amazon with a spiffy intro by shadesong . I hope you all get this, too. I'm trying to think of something to encourage you to get it, but so far, no ideas. Hmm... Anyway, this is one of the coolest stories I've excepted for any of SP's three volumes. It's certainly the weirdest. Think, if you haven't read it yet, of the best elements of creation mythos, B action movies, and clockpunk (yes I really did say B action movies) all wound up tight with a very astonishing ending.

:) Go ye forth and buy, as the goblins said. Or was that just "come buy, come buy." (Then again, maybe this isn't the best sales pitch...heh.)

Hello Hello

Trying to update everything online more regularly now that things are calming down more, and I don't have a con until October's Gaylaxicon--which is also my last pro con for the year.

It's sometimes hard to blog, along with other reasons like time and spoons, because there's just not a lot interesting that's going on in my life, unless you find upping medication to stave off an anxiety-riddled brain that worked around them, tons of editing, and feeling bad for being overwhelmed fascinate you.

In any case. I'm trying hard to get back to my pre-job loss, friendly, more interactive and involved self after a few false starts. I'm sorry. I really haven't meant to ignore anyone. I've just never been this overwhelmed for this long and had this many things go wrong with my health and my home life all at once (for example, I'm going to need another tooth pulled before much longer and it's already causing me some problems. I have a horrible feeling a third may need to go as well as I think I've broken another filling. I wish that was it but sadly, no, that's just the tip of the iceberg :/)

Anyway!

My last summer con was Contemporal 1 in North Carolina. Yep. First year of this con! And folks, it's awesome. Precisely run, a great panel track, and tons of friendly well-dressed people. I'm definitely returning. It was so much fun to hang out with , Natania Barron, Tonia Brown, Lee Martindale, and so many more people I met in passing or spoke to for a long period of time (I love you all; I'm just having issues recalling names, as is usual with me.). I recommend attending if you're into steampunk. Just like I recommend attending AnomalyCon and AetherFest in Denver and San Antonio, respectfully. I've been so blessed to be a guest at so many wonderful cons this year.

Speaking of steampunk, things are looking good on the Steam-Powered III front...though I really could use more submissions. Interestingly enough, I'm getting a lot set in South America and Central America. Please keep those coming. I'm also getting quite a few set in Western Europe in places other than England. This is good too, but I'm getting to the point where I'm going to have to be choosier on what I take here. I don't want the anthology to be too concentrated in any one geographic area. As a reminder, submissions are open until Sept. 1 and the guidelines are here.

Femmes Fatales? Plugging away on. Thanks for your patience, everyone. You are rockstars.

And finally, I'm getting a bit antsy about WisCon Chronicles 7. Not just because I always have to remind myself that the "c" in "con" is capitalized, but because I could really use some more submissions and queries. Don't forget, folks. This year's volume is about disability issues and SF/F/H--however, you don't have to write something about disability necessarily. Guidelines are here: here.

Still working on backlogged emails. Getting caught up though, all while asking my patron saint to help this kind of thing not happen ever again because wtf NO DO NOT WANT. Also on the horizon? TONS of spots open in August and on out in my freelance editing schedule, so now's the time to email me if you need an editor. That address is jo.vanderhooft@ gmail. I'm working on setting up a separate website for my editing as having a page on my main site is making things a bit confusing for me. My rates are going up from $1 per page for copy editing and $1.75 per page for developmental editing, but not by too much. I'm sorry. I was literally killing myself trying to make enough at those rates, and I can't keep doing it. They'll still be affordable, though. Plus, if you've worked with me earlier this year OR you contact me by July 8 to reserve a spot--and mention that you found this offer on LJ--you'll still get the old rates. Just a little incentive there.

That's about it. Other than a fact I've discovered about freelancing: editing on your couch with your kitty sitting next to you is a perk many editors don't talk about.

Here's a picture. :)

ETA: Erm. Forget the picture. It was huge for some reason when I uploaded it. But it's cute. Promise!

Wiscon Chronicles 7 Guidelines

Promised I'd post them here. Here you are!

Please repost and disseminate widely!

I’m thrilled to announce that I’m editing this year’s Wiscon Chronicles, and even more thrilled to say that this volume—volume seven already!—will focus on disability issues, disability in SF/F/H, and fans with disabilities.



It was an awesome year at Wiscon for disability as far as papers and panel topics were concerned, which means that there really is plethora of ways that this volume can shape up. Here are a few ideas to get you started:



· Write-ups of disability-themed panels (some panels I’m particularly interested in seeing write ups of are Body Acceptance: From All Sides; Assistive Technology is One of My Fandoms; Body Impolitic; Disability and the Final Frontier; Feminist Perspectives on Elder Care; Intersectionalism: It’s Not the Oppression Olympics; Passing Privilege; Addiction in Fiction; Disclosing and Advocating for Your Disability; We’re in Your Classics, Harshing on your Disability Tropes; and Accessibility 201)

· The evolution of disability policies through Wiscon’s history, as experienced by con staff and con-goers

· Essays about fandom by fans with disabilities.

· Essays about inter-disability politics.

· Essays by and about PWD whose disabilities are often marginalized or ignored (for example, invisible disabilities,

· Experiencing disability at Wiscon

· Essays about disability in SF/F/H TV, film, books, and other media in general


Note: Although many people both on and not on the autism spectrum do not consider autism and Asperger’s syndrome to be disabilities, society at large often treats autism as a disability. Therefore, I am very interested in receiving essays by and about autism as it pertains to ableism and fandom.

I will also gladly consider essays, poetry, play excerpts, and short fiction (under 3,500 words, please) that deal with disability, particularly if said essays, poetry, play excerpts, and short fiction were read, presented, or workshopped at Wiscon 2012. (Note, if you presented “Theorizing Vulnerability in Feminist SF,” “The Tribe of Maiden and the Tribe of Monsters,” “Disappearing Natives: The Colonized Body is Monstrous,” or “Darwin and the Digital Body,” I am especially interested in talking with you!)

Most importantly, I truly want this book to be intersectional. Therefore, I’m especially interested in panel write ups, essays, and more written by PWD who are also of color, LGB, transgender or genderqueer, fat and fat-positive, immigrants, non-Christian, and from all marginalized identities. The default PWD isn’t white, male, straight, and cisgender, and I want this volume to reflect that fact.

Have something that isn’t disability-related that you’d like to write up or have written up? That’s great, too! I’d love to take a look at it. While this book is centered on disability, essays that focus on other topics—whether that topic is racism, postcolonialism, or just how kick-ass the Chicks Dig Comics reading was—are very much encouraged. After all, Wiscon, like almost any con, is never “about” just one topic.

Before sending your essay, please query with what you want to write at jo.vanderhooft@(remove this)gmail.com. For ease of sorting, please put Wiscon Chronicles 7 Query: [Your last name] in the subject. I'm asking for queries mainly to avoid, say, receiving 5 different write ups of the same panel or 5 different essays on a very similar topic.

Ultimately, submissions should range from 1,000-3,500 words.

Submission deadline is August 15.

Any questions? Shoot me an email or comment here!

Thanks!

- Jo Vanderhooft