Cherie Priest's Blog: It's awards season, so here comes the shameless self-promotion, page 53
April 12, 2012
Fun with out-of-towners
It's been a very social couple of weeks over here - which is partly (I admit, only partly) responsible for my dearth of posting. First we had ECCC and the lovely out-of-towners who showed up for it; and then we had Norwescon, and the subsequent fine non-locals; and now Stina Leicht has had the unmitigated GALL to hang around Seattle, having a wonderful time and luring us hermity residents out into the rain.*
In fact, just last night she and I (and Kat and Liz and Melissa-who-must-remain-unlinked-at-this-time.) took the Seattle Ghost Tour. The tour itself was actually a lot of fun; I was familiar with only a few of the stories, and I learned some nifty nuggets of story fodder which I have filed away for later.
After the tour we stopped at one of the places we'd actually visited while on the tour - an Irish pub/restaurant in an allegedly haunted building. Yes, well. We pressed our supernatural luck.
Didn't encounter any ghosts. Did encounter some wholly unexpected hilarity.
Picture it: a table of five women, all married, tipsy, most of us old enough to have children of bar-visiting age. (Technically. Mind you.) Now picture an uncommonly attractive, terribly young body-builder in a very-tight shirt, sauntering up to our table to ask what we were drinking ...
...whereupon we reached the 100 PERCENT REASONABLE conclusion that this must be our new waiter.
Reasonable conclusions are not always foolproof.
Oh no. Mr. BouncyPecs was trawling for sexytimes.
Now look - we all agreed that it took significant testicular volume to approach a table full of women in such a fashion. We didn't intend to laugh at him or send him slinking away, a puddle of mortified man-ooze. Far from it! As we told him, we were flattered - very flattered - and we appreciated his interest. But I do confess, some measure of giggling might've occurred as we all displayed our wedding rings.
It was just ... Jesus, you have to understand: By the time we realized he was trying to pick us up (individually or en masse - however it shaped up), it was entirely too late to pretend this wasn't awkward. We'd already asked about the specials!
So we thought we'd made ourselves clear in a friendly but firm fashion - but we were wrong about that, too. Because then he asked in all seriousness: "You're all like ... married married? Not even, like, married ... but with some gray area?" Repeatedly. While "leading with the wang," if you ladies know what I mean.
Finally, Liz suggested that if he was that desperate to buy us something, he should mosey over to the bar and bring us a dessert menu. Hey, our spouses prefer a little junk in the trunk! Help a sister out, Captain Ticklepants!
He declined, and wandered off.
So we bought dessert ourselves.
* In all fairness, it's actually been relatively nice the last few days. This is because Seattle lies to people. It rolls out the temperate, blue-sky bait for those who are just passing through - spreading the rumor that this is a beautiful place where the residents get plenty of Vitamin D.
In fact, just last night she and I (and Kat and Liz and Melissa-who-must-remain-unlinked-at-this-time.) took the Seattle Ghost Tour. The tour itself was actually a lot of fun; I was familiar with only a few of the stories, and I learned some nifty nuggets of story fodder which I have filed away for later.
After the tour we stopped at one of the places we'd actually visited while on the tour - an Irish pub/restaurant in an allegedly haunted building. Yes, well. We pressed our supernatural luck.
Didn't encounter any ghosts. Did encounter some wholly unexpected hilarity.
Picture it: a table of five women, all married, tipsy, most of us old enough to have children of bar-visiting age. (Technically. Mind you.) Now picture an uncommonly attractive, terribly young body-builder in a very-tight shirt, sauntering up to our table to ask what we were drinking ...
...whereupon we reached the 100 PERCENT REASONABLE conclusion that this must be our new waiter.
Reasonable conclusions are not always foolproof.
Oh no. Mr. BouncyPecs was trawling for sexytimes.
Now look - we all agreed that it took significant testicular volume to approach a table full of women in such a fashion. We didn't intend to laugh at him or send him slinking away, a puddle of mortified man-ooze. Far from it! As we told him, we were flattered - very flattered - and we appreciated his interest. But I do confess, some measure of giggling might've occurred as we all displayed our wedding rings.
It was just ... Jesus, you have to understand: By the time we realized he was trying to pick us up (individually or en masse - however it shaped up), it was entirely too late to pretend this wasn't awkward. We'd already asked about the specials!
So we thought we'd made ourselves clear in a friendly but firm fashion - but we were wrong about that, too. Because then he asked in all seriousness: "You're all like ... married married? Not even, like, married ... but with some gray area?" Repeatedly. While "leading with the wang," if you ladies know what I mean.
Finally, Liz suggested that if he was that desperate to buy us something, he should mosey over to the bar and bring us a dessert menu. Hey, our spouses prefer a little junk in the trunk! Help a sister out, Captain Ticklepants!
He declined, and wandered off.
So we bought dessert ourselves.
* In all fairness, it's actually been relatively nice the last few days. This is because Seattle lies to people. It rolls out the temperate, blue-sky bait for those who are just passing through - spreading the rumor that this is a beautiful place where the residents get plenty of Vitamin D.
April 10, 2012
We walked the narrow path beneath the smoking skies
On Saturday, the husband and I swung by NorwesCon and hung out in the bar for the evening. It was great! I wore my new hat, kicked around with Kat, had a few drinks, and saw a lot of locals - including new Seattle local Shanna Germain. We also had a number of awesome out-of-towners join us, among them, Mary Robinette Kowal, Stina Leicht and Denny Upkins.
It was an excellent night, with excellent company.
________
Lately I haven't done enough writing to warrant mentioning it, so I'll skip the word metrics for now. In my defense, this whole "planning a big-ass move" thing can really eat up brain cells, I tell you what - even though we're still over two weeks away from showtime.
I know this will all be worth it in the end, but I am not looking forward to carrying big heavy boxes. I am not looking forward to the drive.
And I am especially not looking forward to making the drive with one outraged, indignant animal on board.
Spain the Cat is terrible in a car. Every waking moment in transit, she acts like she's being beaten with a sock full of pennies - when in fact she is riding in a spacious, sturdy, well-ventilated carrier* ... snuggled on her favorite Comfy BlanketTM and surrounded by some of her most reassuring squishy toys.
Here. I give you a voice post from the road in 2006, at the start of my journey to Seattle. BEHOLD the HELLCAT. And yes, she did that the entire time she we were on the road. I kept thinking her voice would give out eventually, or she'd get tired and take a nap. Nope! It was all cat protest music, all the time, all the way to Washington.
For this trip, we've come to our senses - and we're heading to the vet to nab some kitty knockout drops. NAY, ALL OF THE KITTY KNOCKOUT DROPS. I want this little monster to snooze halfway to the Mississippi River, and I'm sure my husband will be happiest that way too - after all, he'll be stuck with her at least half of the trip.
I am only human, and I've already had to do this once, coming west. I cannot seriously be expected to have her riding shotgun all the way back east, too.
________
And now for one of my peculiarly popular and utterly pointless television roundups. Ahem.
Still not interested in Once Upon A Time anymore, which frankly pains me. I wanted to care about it, but the characters just don't make a damn bit of sense and now I'm bored. So I'm officially calling my interest in that one All the Way Dead.
But I'm back on the Grimm bandwagon, much to my own surprise. I skipped it for a few weeks, then caught a new episode and kind of liked what I saw. This having been said, if it were up to me, I'd kill off Nick and Juliette both, and make the show about Monroe and Rosalee running that fabulous little store together - solving mysteries and fighting crime among the supernatural population of the Pacific Northwest. I would watch the shit out of that.
In other news, the husband and I finally caught up on Justified and hot damn, I love that show. I avoided it for a long time, mostly because I didn't really care to watch Hollywood make fun of Appalachia for an hour at a time ... since that's how I assumed it'd play out.
But no! It's clever, funny, tense, and surprising. I love how it's not actually the Raylan Show, and no one is more confused by that than Raylan. I love all the badass women. I love Limehouse. I love Boyd, and if you'd told me I'd come to love Boyd after I'd seen only the first couple of episodes, I would've laughed in your face.
And that's mostly what I love: I love how this show has a knack for subverting my expectations. I am hopelessly charmed by it, because every time I say, "Man, I hope the writers know what they're doing," it turns out that they do. Which makes for a happy, happy Cherie.
Except that now we're all caught up, and we have to wait for new episodes like ordinary mortals. Ah, well.
* Cat carriers usually are "rated" for cats up to ten or twelve pounds. Spain the Cat is, um, bigger than that; she's a Maine Coon mix with what could best be described as a "sedentary" lifestyle. Her carrier is made to hold mid-sized dogs.
It was an excellent night, with excellent company.
________
Lately I haven't done enough writing to warrant mentioning it, so I'll skip the word metrics for now. In my defense, this whole "planning a big-ass move" thing can really eat up brain cells, I tell you what - even though we're still over two weeks away from showtime.
I know this will all be worth it in the end, but I am not looking forward to carrying big heavy boxes. I am not looking forward to the drive.
And I am especially not looking forward to making the drive with one outraged, indignant animal on board.
Spain the Cat is terrible in a car. Every waking moment in transit, she acts like she's being beaten with a sock full of pennies - when in fact she is riding in a spacious, sturdy, well-ventilated carrier* ... snuggled on her favorite Comfy BlanketTM and surrounded by some of her most reassuring squishy toys.
Here. I give you a voice post from the road in 2006, at the start of my journey to Seattle. BEHOLD the HELLCAT. And yes, she did that the entire time she we were on the road. I kept thinking her voice would give out eventually, or she'd get tired and take a nap. Nope! It was all cat protest music, all the time, all the way to Washington.
For this trip, we've come to our senses - and we're heading to the vet to nab some kitty knockout drops. NAY, ALL OF THE KITTY KNOCKOUT DROPS. I want this little monster to snooze halfway to the Mississippi River, and I'm sure my husband will be happiest that way too - after all, he'll be stuck with her at least half of the trip.
I am only human, and I've already had to do this once, coming west. I cannot seriously be expected to have her riding shotgun all the way back east, too.
________
And now for one of my peculiarly popular and utterly pointless television roundups. Ahem.
Still not interested in Once Upon A Time anymore, which frankly pains me. I wanted to care about it, but the characters just don't make a damn bit of sense and now I'm bored. So I'm officially calling my interest in that one All the Way Dead.
But I'm back on the Grimm bandwagon, much to my own surprise. I skipped it for a few weeks, then caught a new episode and kind of liked what I saw. This having been said, if it were up to me, I'd kill off Nick and Juliette both, and make the show about Monroe and Rosalee running that fabulous little store together - solving mysteries and fighting crime among the supernatural population of the Pacific Northwest. I would watch the shit out of that.
In other news, the husband and I finally caught up on Justified and hot damn, I love that show. I avoided it for a long time, mostly because I didn't really care to watch Hollywood make fun of Appalachia for an hour at a time ... since that's how I assumed it'd play out.
But no! It's clever, funny, tense, and surprising. I love how it's not actually the Raylan Show, and no one is more confused by that than Raylan. I love all the badass women. I love Limehouse. I love Boyd, and if you'd told me I'd come to love Boyd after I'd seen only the first couple of episodes, I would've laughed in your face.
And that's mostly what I love: I love how this show has a knack for subverting my expectations. I am hopelessly charmed by it, because every time I say, "Man, I hope the writers know what they're doing," it turns out that they do. Which makes for a happy, happy Cherie.
Except that now we're all caught up, and we have to wait for new episodes like ordinary mortals. Ah, well.
* Cat carriers usually are "rated" for cats up to ten or twelve pounds. Spain the Cat is, um, bigger than that; she's a Maine Coon mix with what could best be described as a "sedentary" lifestyle. Her carrier is made to hold mid-sized dogs.
April 6, 2012
Get down, get undressed, get pretty
First up: Many thanks to those of you who passed around the link to yesterday's GET IT OUT OF MY STORAGE AREA book sale - and many thanks also to those of you who bought books, of course! I got rid of pretty much everything I meant to sell - by which I mean, I unloaded three full boxes of miscellaneous books upon you fine people. And those are three boxes I do not have to carry to Tennessee. So when I say "thanks," I really mean it.
Also, I think I probably raised enough money to pay for our hotel stays on the cross-country drive. So there's some gravy, yeah.
So I'm calling that sale a success, and calling it finished. Please no more requests for books. There are no more books for sale at this time. My apologies if you missed it.
Everyone who completed the paypal instructions: Your books are either in the mail, or going into the mail tomorrow. Those of you dibbed books but did not pay (only a couple of people - no big deal), your books are going back into my personal stash. Sorry.
Anyway!
Next in the queue: Here's recent progress on my comic/sci-fi young adult project where a girl becomes a ninja and fights aliens with much ass-kicking and many LOLs but not a whole lot of kissing (or any kissing, to be frank) plus BONUS Bruce Lee's ghost, a vintage Thunderbird, zenlightenment on the fly, and fat stacks of Cool Ranch Doritos.
Project: Ninja Planet
Deadline: Sooner or Later
New words written: 2260 (nothing to write home about.)
Present total word count: 32,182 words
Things accomplished in fiction: Formulated A Plan. Picked nose in front of a poorly hidden camera to entertain self while men in an unmarked van went, "Ew."
Things accomplished in real life: Went to post office three times because hot damn, that was a lot of books to mail; did laundry; cleaned house a bit; dealt with plumber (rather briefly); spent my lunch hour with my (out-of-town) friend's cat; went to Walgreens; cleaned out storage area downstairs; got inbox down to zero, though now it's not zero anymore, so oh well.
Also, I think I probably raised enough money to pay for our hotel stays on the cross-country drive. So there's some gravy, yeah.
So I'm calling that sale a success, and calling it finished. Please no more requests for books. There are no more books for sale at this time. My apologies if you missed it.
Everyone who completed the paypal instructions: Your books are either in the mail, or going into the mail tomorrow. Those of you dibbed books but did not pay (only a couple of people - no big deal), your books are going back into my personal stash. Sorry.
Anyway!
Next in the queue: Here's recent progress on my comic/sci-fi young adult project where a girl becomes a ninja and fights aliens with much ass-kicking and many LOLs but not a whole lot of kissing (or any kissing, to be frank) plus BONUS Bruce Lee's ghost, a vintage Thunderbird, zenlightenment on the fly, and fat stacks of Cool Ranch Doritos.
Project: Ninja Planet
Deadline: Sooner or Later
New words written: 2260 (nothing to write home about.)
Present total word count: 32,182 words
Things accomplished in fiction: Formulated A Plan. Picked nose in front of a poorly hidden camera to entertain self while men in an unmarked van went, "Ew."
Things accomplished in real life: Went to post office three times because hot damn, that was a lot of books to mail; did laundry; cleaned house a bit; dealt with plumber (rather briefly); spent my lunch hour with my (out-of-town) friend's cat; went to Walgreens; cleaned out storage area downstairs; got inbox down to zero, though now it's not zero anymore, so oh well.
April 4, 2012
Cherie's Load-Lightening Fund
Due to the strong response to yesterday's "HAY GUYS WANT SOME BOOKS?", I took the opportunity to sift through my author copies while doing laundry - deciding what to keep, and what to offer up to the internet.* This undertaking was a bit of a revelation; I found books I didn't know I had, and didn't find books I was 100% confident I possessed. But such is the way of things.
I don't intend to unload every single tome, mind you. I'm holding back a number of books for myself - but some of this overflow really has to go.
In the future, when I have a whole attic in which to spread out, I'm sure I'll be a little more sticky-fingered. But not right now. Not when the prospect of carrying boxes and boxes of books out of the basement and then moving them 2500 miles only to lug them up a flight of stairs into an attic ... just sounds too damn daunting.
So here's how this will work:
I will list the books for sale, and how much each copy will cost. If you want one/some, send an email to cherie.priest@gmail.com telling me which title(s) and how many.
This is strictly first-come, first-served - so don't send me money or anything until I can check the stash and make sure I've got what you've asked for.
If the book(s) is(are) available, I'll tell you how much you owe ... at which point you paypal me that amount. (To that same email address.) Yes, paypal. I'm sorry, but that's all I'm taking right now.
When you pay via paypal, make a note to tell me how you'd like the book signed. If you don't tell me anything specific, I'll just sign it and ship it.
I will pay shipping/handling, which means these books be coming at you via media rate. If you want books, you buy them at your own risk - trusting both me and the Post Office to do our respective jobs. And I can only vouch for myself.
Got it?
Okay.
Here's what's on deck:
(US editions unless otherwise stated)
Four and Twenty Blackbirds - UK EDITION ONLY (trade paperback) - $10 each
Wings to the Kingdom - Trade Paperback - $15 each
Edited to add: THIS IS ALL I HAVE LEFT. JUST THIS BOOK. Sorry! All others have sold out.
Not Flesh Nor Feathers - Trade Paperback - $15 each
Fathom - Trade Paperback - $15 each
Bloodshot - Trade Paperback - $15 each
Bloodshot - UK EDITION (trade paperback) - $10 each
Hellbent - Trade Paperback - $15 each
Dreadful Skin - Trade Paperback (OUT OF PRINT) - $15 each
No, I do not have any stray copies of my steampunk books available at this time. My apologies.
Anyway, I will try to update this post as copies sell out - but I have some errands to run today, so it might not be completely current at any given moment. (That's why you email first, in accordance with the directions.)
* We have storage cubbies in the basement/laundry area. That's where I keep my book overflow.
I don't intend to unload every single tome, mind you. I'm holding back a number of books for myself - but some of this overflow really has to go.
In the future, when I have a whole attic in which to spread out, I'm sure I'll be a little more sticky-fingered. But not right now. Not when the prospect of carrying boxes and boxes of books out of the basement and then moving them 2500 miles only to lug them up a flight of stairs into an attic ... just sounds too damn daunting.
So here's how this will work:
I will list the books for sale, and how much each copy will cost. If you want one/some, send an email to cherie.priest@gmail.com telling me which title(s) and how many.
This is strictly first-come, first-served - so don't send me money or anything until I can check the stash and make sure I've got what you've asked for.
If the book(s) is(are) available, I'll tell you how much you owe ... at which point you paypal me that amount. (To that same email address.) Yes, paypal. I'm sorry, but that's all I'm taking right now.
When you pay via paypal, make a note to tell me how you'd like the book signed. If you don't tell me anything specific, I'll just sign it and ship it.
I will pay shipping/handling, which means these books be coming at you via media rate. If you want books, you buy them at your own risk - trusting both me and the Post Office to do our respective jobs. And I can only vouch for myself.
Got it?
Okay.
Here's what's on deck:
(US editions unless otherwise stated)
Four and Twenty Blackbirds - UK EDITION ONLY (trade paperback) - $10 each
Wings to the Kingdom - Trade Paperback - $15 each
Edited to add: THIS IS ALL I HAVE LEFT. JUST THIS BOOK. Sorry! All others have sold out.
Not Flesh Nor Feathers - Trade Paperback - $15 each
Fathom - Trade Paperback - $15 each
Bloodshot - Trade Paperback - $15 each
Bloodshot - UK EDITION (trade paperback) - $10 each
Hellbent - Trade Paperback - $15 each
Dreadful Skin - Trade Paperback (OUT OF PRINT) - $15 each
No, I do not have any stray copies of my steampunk books available at this time. My apologies.
Anyway, I will try to update this post as copies sell out - but I have some errands to run today, so it might not be completely current at any given moment. (That's why you email first, in accordance with the directions.)
* We have storage cubbies in the basement/laundry area. That's where I keep my book overflow.
April 3, 2012
The Countdown Begins
I survived Emerald City Comic Con, which wasn't that hard - considering that I wasn't working this particular event. Naw, just showed up for giggles, and to catch up with friends I don't see very often.
I do admit, the weekend got off to a rocky start, when someone stole my badge right as the doors opened. The organizers had crammed us all into this waiting area - so when the doors did finally open, it was a veritable stampede ... and in this stampede, I felt someone knock up against me. Not in the "I'm in the middle of a stampede so I'm gonna get knocked" sort of way, but in the "Someone has just body-checked me with purpose" fashion.
Sure enough, I looked down just in time to see a hand retreating with my badge. I struggled unsuccessfully against the tide, and got a glimpse of a heavyset white guy in a black tee shirt disappearing into the crowd.
Imagine the announcement: ATTENTION EMERALD CITY COMIC CON ATTENDEES: PLEASE HELP US FIND A HEAVYSET WHITE GUY IN A BLACK TEE SHIRT. And the crowd response: HE JUST FLEW AWAY IN THAT ROTFLCOPTER.
I went back to the registration area and threw myself upon the mercy of the nice woman who'd sold me the badge in the first place. She remembered me (it'd been rather quiet when I'd come through the line), vouched for me, and her boss handed me a new badge.
Score one for the good guys! And many thanks to the ECCC folks for being so damn cool.
So. Apart from that one incident of nerd-on-nerd crime, it was a great weekend. I ran into scads of locals, got to see lots of lovely friends from out-of-town, hung out in a secret room party and played merrily with other people's kids, wore my new Wonder Woman Chucks, and bought some new prints for framing in my soon-to-be-house.
In other news, I am not allowed to buy any more artwork for my soon-to-be-house because the husband says we're going to run out of walls. Maybe he's right. I'll grant him, I'm amassing a rather ridiculous collection of Stuff To Frame, though in my defense, it's all awesome stuff - and we still have that attic space to finish, so I can always MAKE MORE WALLS if it comes to that.
I'm happy about this attic-finishing option, particularly since three pieces of artwork I ordered weeks ago finally arrived today. So technically, my hoard continues to amass ... but also technically, I have not bought any new artwork.
Someone get this choirgirl a martini over here, eh?
Speaking of our impending relocation plans, I sure do have a bunch of books hanging around that I don't feel like carrying to Tennessee. Author copies, I mean. Boxes of them in storage. Do I want to keep some of these for my vanity stash? Oh, yes. Absolutely. But do I need entire crates of these things? No I do not.
If I were to offer some of these items for sale, signed, postage covered by yours truly, roughly at cover price ... might some of you be interested in helping me lighten our moving load? And, um, raise money for print-framing?
Just thought I'd throw that out there.
Anyway. No new writing to speak of, as today has been a day of RUNNING ALL THE ERRANDS. But at least all the errands got run. Off the top of my head: I went to the bank to deposit a check and get quarters for laundry; went to the post office and mailed off a quarterly tax payment; filled out two email interviews; went to the eye doctor and picked up a stash of new contacts; called the vet and set up a check-up appointment for Spain the Cat; sorted out arrangements for the Texas Library Association conference this month; put in notice with our apartment manager; sorted out an alarming notice from our bank about our mortgage vis-a-vis insurance coverage - which turned out to be an error on their part and all is well; and reserved a moving truck for Saturday the 28th so people this shit is getting REAL.
I also tried to do laundry, but the washers/dryers were occupied. I cannot begin to tell you how much I am looking forward to no longer having this problem.
Wow, this turned out to be a long, rambly entry.
Well, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go give laundry another shot - and maybe sit down to attempt a few hundred words of fiction before the husband gets home from work, reads this, and rolls his eyes when he learns about the new artwork.
So thanks for reading - and stay tuned if you're game to pick up some signed books on the sly and on the cheap.
I do admit, the weekend got off to a rocky start, when someone stole my badge right as the doors opened. The organizers had crammed us all into this waiting area - so when the doors did finally open, it was a veritable stampede ... and in this stampede, I felt someone knock up against me. Not in the "I'm in the middle of a stampede so I'm gonna get knocked" sort of way, but in the "Someone has just body-checked me with purpose" fashion.
Sure enough, I looked down just in time to see a hand retreating with my badge. I struggled unsuccessfully against the tide, and got a glimpse of a heavyset white guy in a black tee shirt disappearing into the crowd.
Imagine the announcement: ATTENTION EMERALD CITY COMIC CON ATTENDEES: PLEASE HELP US FIND A HEAVYSET WHITE GUY IN A BLACK TEE SHIRT. And the crowd response: HE JUST FLEW AWAY IN THAT ROTFLCOPTER.
I went back to the registration area and threw myself upon the mercy of the nice woman who'd sold me the badge in the first place. She remembered me (it'd been rather quiet when I'd come through the line), vouched for me, and her boss handed me a new badge.
Score one for the good guys! And many thanks to the ECCC folks for being so damn cool.
So. Apart from that one incident of nerd-on-nerd crime, it was a great weekend. I ran into scads of locals, got to see lots of lovely friends from out-of-town, hung out in a secret room party and played merrily with other people's kids, wore my new Wonder Woman Chucks, and bought some new prints for framing in my soon-to-be-house.
In other news, I am not allowed to buy any more artwork for my soon-to-be-house because the husband says we're going to run out of walls. Maybe he's right. I'll grant him, I'm amassing a rather ridiculous collection of Stuff To Frame, though in my defense, it's all awesome stuff - and we still have that attic space to finish, so I can always MAKE MORE WALLS if it comes to that.
I'm happy about this attic-finishing option, particularly since three pieces of artwork I ordered weeks ago finally arrived today. So technically, my hoard continues to amass ... but also technically, I have not bought any new artwork.
Someone get this choirgirl a martini over here, eh?
Speaking of our impending relocation plans, I sure do have a bunch of books hanging around that I don't feel like carrying to Tennessee. Author copies, I mean. Boxes of them in storage. Do I want to keep some of these for my vanity stash? Oh, yes. Absolutely. But do I need entire crates of these things? No I do not.
If I were to offer some of these items for sale, signed, postage covered by yours truly, roughly at cover price ... might some of you be interested in helping me lighten our moving load? And, um, raise money for print-framing?
Just thought I'd throw that out there.
Anyway. No new writing to speak of, as today has been a day of RUNNING ALL THE ERRANDS. But at least all the errands got run. Off the top of my head: I went to the bank to deposit a check and get quarters for laundry; went to the post office and mailed off a quarterly tax payment; filled out two email interviews; went to the eye doctor and picked up a stash of new contacts; called the vet and set up a check-up appointment for Spain the Cat; sorted out arrangements for the Texas Library Association conference this month; put in notice with our apartment manager; sorted out an alarming notice from our bank about our mortgage vis-a-vis insurance coverage - which turned out to be an error on their part and all is well; and reserved a moving truck for Saturday the 28th so people this shit is getting REAL.
I also tried to do laundry, but the washers/dryers were occupied. I cannot begin to tell you how much I am looking forward to no longer having this problem.
Wow, this turned out to be a long, rambly entry.
Well, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go give laundry another shot - and maybe sit down to attempt a few hundred words of fiction before the husband gets home from work, reads this, and rolls his eyes when he learns about the new artwork.
So thanks for reading - and stay tuned if you're game to pick up some signed books on the sly and on the cheap.
March 29, 2012
You should run, but it won't do any good
A glance around the internet today tells me that I ought to make some kind of disclaimer - maybe write it into my bio page: "Not that C. Priest." Might discourage the sort of highly amusing messages I've been getting. Ahem.
* * * *
Here's recent progress on my comic/sci-fi young adult project where a girl becomes a ninja and fights aliens with much ass-kicking and many LOLs but not a whole lot of kissing (or any kissing, to be frank) plus BONUS Bruce Lee's ghost, a vintage Thunderbird, zenlightenment on the fly, and fat stacks of Cool Ranch Doritos.
Project: Ninja Planet
Deadline: Sooner or Later
New words written: 1467 (still crappy.)
Present total word count: 29,922 words
Things accomplished in fiction: Got the scoop on what the aliens are up to - or at least got all the puzzle pieces, and we conveniently have a genius to put them together for us. If he can be bothered. Because he's still kind of pissed about all the anal probe jokes.
Things accomplished in real life: Went to Walgreens; went to post office; went to eye doctor and ordered enough contacts to last me another year or two, hooray.
Other: I'm calling it an early day on the writing front because I have some important emails to tackle, and I'm meeting some friends for happy hour at six. (At a bar we haven't tried yet, so it's an adventure!) Therefore, I post my metrics, wrestle the inbox down to zero, and go do my hair -- which is an utter waste of effort, given the weather.
Revenge of Other: Tomorrow is Emerald City Comic Con. I'm not participating, but I'll be there roaming the convention floor and lusting over nerd toys. I have a lot of friends in town for this thing, and will be doing the social butterfly thing for the next few days. Might be scarce online, that's all I'm sayin'.
* * * *
Here's recent progress on my comic/sci-fi young adult project where a girl becomes a ninja and fights aliens with much ass-kicking and many LOLs but not a whole lot of kissing (or any kissing, to be frank) plus BONUS Bruce Lee's ghost, a vintage Thunderbird, zenlightenment on the fly, and fat stacks of Cool Ranch Doritos.
Project: Ninja Planet
Deadline: Sooner or Later
New words written: 1467 (still crappy.)
Present total word count: 29,922 words
Things accomplished in fiction: Got the scoop on what the aliens are up to - or at least got all the puzzle pieces, and we conveniently have a genius to put them together for us. If he can be bothered. Because he's still kind of pissed about all the anal probe jokes.
Things accomplished in real life: Went to Walgreens; went to post office; went to eye doctor and ordered enough contacts to last me another year or two, hooray.
Other: I'm calling it an early day on the writing front because I have some important emails to tackle, and I'm meeting some friends for happy hour at six. (At a bar we haven't tried yet, so it's an adventure!) Therefore, I post my metrics, wrestle the inbox down to zero, and go do my hair -- which is an utter waste of effort, given the weather.
Revenge of Other: Tomorrow is Emerald City Comic Con. I'm not participating, but I'll be there roaming the convention floor and lusting over nerd toys. I have a lot of friends in town for this thing, and will be doing the social butterfly thing for the next few days. Might be scarce online, that's all I'm sayin'.
Cold cold nights under chrome and glass
Here's recent progress on my comic/sci-fi young adult project where a girl becomes a ninja and fights aliens with much ass-kicking and many LOLs but not a whole lot of kissing (or any kissing, to be frank) plus BONUS Bruce Lee's ghost, a vintage Thunderbird, zenlightenment on the fly, and fat stacks of Cool Ranch Doritos.
Project: Ninja Planet
Deadline: Sooner or Later
New words written: 1415 (crappy.)
Present total word count: 28,455 words
Things accomplished in fiction: Paulie the Alien Abduction Survivor antagonizes an FBI agent; Bam-Bam and Franklin run interference.
Things accomplished in real life: Went to the post office; tackled some business and personal emails; ultimately got the inbox back down to zero; did some research on the net and trudged through some of my old-fashioned actual paper books too; fiddled with yesterday's semi-finished proposal; got rained on when I went to grab myself some lunch.
Other: Lately I've gotten a rash of inquiries re: the Clementine paperback. You can order it right here on Amazon . It's not a myth, or an elaborate internet hoax! I've even seen these bad-boys out in the wild, and signed a few.
Other, redux: I only have about one more month here in Seattle, so if you want to order signed copies of my books from the University Book Store, there's no time like the present. Instructions are available here. I will do my best to set up something like this in Tennessee, but it might take me a bit - so if you want something signed as a gift or something otherwise time-sensitive, I recommend you order soon. I can't guarantee any orders placed after the second week in April.
Project: Ninja Planet
Deadline: Sooner or Later
New words written: 1415 (crappy.)
Present total word count: 28,455 words
Things accomplished in fiction: Paulie the Alien Abduction Survivor antagonizes an FBI agent; Bam-Bam and Franklin run interference.
Things accomplished in real life: Went to the post office; tackled some business and personal emails; ultimately got the inbox back down to zero; did some research on the net and trudged through some of my old-fashioned actual paper books too; fiddled with yesterday's semi-finished proposal; got rained on when I went to grab myself some lunch.
Other: Lately I've gotten a rash of inquiries re: the Clementine paperback. You can order it right here on Amazon . It's not a myth, or an elaborate internet hoax! I've even seen these bad-boys out in the wild, and signed a few.
Other, redux: I only have about one more month here in Seattle, so if you want to order signed copies of my books from the University Book Store, there's no time like the present. Instructions are available here. I will do my best to set up something like this in Tennessee, but it might take me a bit - so if you want something signed as a gift or something otherwise time-sensitive, I recommend you order soon. I can't guarantee any orders placed after the second week in April.
March 28, 2012
There's no time here in space
I don't want to shock you silly or anything, but I haven't written anything new on Ninja Planet in the last couple of days. My excuses are threefold: (1). I'm getting over having been sick for weeks, (2). we're now about a month out from the Big Move, and preparations are getting underway, and (3). I have another Super Secret Project on deck.
This one shouldn't be secret for too much longer, and I'm really looking forward to getting started on it -- now that I have only a Big Move, final editorial cleanup on The Inexplicables, and one book to write before this fall.
When I put it that way, it looks daunting. But after last year, it feels like a vacation.*
I still have a little time before I need to have every last duck in a row with this SSP, but I figure I'm better off getting a jump on things. Besides, I was hijacked by a fantastic idea for a fantastic new character who I am DYING to tell you about but alas, cannot at this time. And when one is hijacked by fantastic characters, in my experience, one should really take advantage of it -- especially if the hijacking occurs on behalf of something you have to write anyway. Where I come from, we call that a win-win.
So. Yes. Hm... what else? This week has actually been pretty busy already. To give you the dull list version: I exhausted my supply of quarters in order to WASH ALL THE THINGS**; cleaned the whole apartment, which badly needed it; bought a fabulous vintage refurb bedroom set and swapped it out for our crappy Ikea stuff, which left me with some truly amazing bruises; went to the bank; went to the post office; proofed a short story reprint (sort of, long story); printed up contracts and got them ready to mail; sorted out some details re: upcoming convention travel; tackled some translator questions re: the Japanese edition of Boneshaker; did one email interview; got my inbox down to ZERO that's right ZERO; and yes, banged out a full (if not very good) summary/pitch/lineup thingy for this Super Secret Project.
So I think I can cut myself a little slack and log off now, in favor of killing time potting around on Pinterest -- which is an unexpectedly charming time-sink when you've got remodeling plans on deck.
Oh - and P.S. - you can also pre-order The Inexplicables on Amazon.com for ten bucks. In case this is relevant to your interests. (That's the book with at least one guaranteed zombie sasquatch, I swear to God. Please check it out!)
And that's all I can think of right now.
I'll be back later (tomorrow? next day?) to ramble about tv shows and whatnot. Don't worry. We're on season #3 of Justified and I am ALL AFLAME with the fangirl glow. So you'll definitely be hearing about that.
* Last year's tally: Four books released (including Fort Freak), one book written, one book tour, more than a dozen out-of-state trips, and a full-time long-distance day-job of a super-secret nature which will likely remain super-secret for the foreseeable future, maybe indefinitely.
** I realize that laundry doesn't seem like a super huge accomplishment, but let me add the following - we live on the top floor of an old building with 9-foot ceilings and no elevator, and the laundry room is in the basement. Several loads of laundry are roughly equal to climbing Mt. Ranier. I totally bet. Anyway, it's no small undertaking and believe me, this was a LOT of laundry.
This one shouldn't be secret for too much longer, and I'm really looking forward to getting started on it -- now that I have only a Big Move, final editorial cleanup on The Inexplicables, and one book to write before this fall.
When I put it that way, it looks daunting. But after last year, it feels like a vacation.*
I still have a little time before I need to have every last duck in a row with this SSP, but I figure I'm better off getting a jump on things. Besides, I was hijacked by a fantastic idea for a fantastic new character who I am DYING to tell you about but alas, cannot at this time. And when one is hijacked by fantastic characters, in my experience, one should really take advantage of it -- especially if the hijacking occurs on behalf of something you have to write anyway. Where I come from, we call that a win-win.
So. Yes. Hm... what else? This week has actually been pretty busy already. To give you the dull list version: I exhausted my supply of quarters in order to WASH ALL THE THINGS**; cleaned the whole apartment, which badly needed it; bought a fabulous vintage refurb bedroom set and swapped it out for our crappy Ikea stuff, which left me with some truly amazing bruises; went to the bank; went to the post office; proofed a short story reprint (sort of, long story); printed up contracts and got them ready to mail; sorted out some details re: upcoming convention travel; tackled some translator questions re: the Japanese edition of Boneshaker; did one email interview; got my inbox down to ZERO that's right ZERO; and yes, banged out a full (if not very good) summary/pitch/lineup thingy for this Super Secret Project.
So I think I can cut myself a little slack and log off now, in favor of killing time potting around on Pinterest -- which is an unexpectedly charming time-sink when you've got remodeling plans on deck.
Oh - and P.S. - you can also pre-order The Inexplicables on Amazon.com for ten bucks. In case this is relevant to your interests. (That's the book with at least one guaranteed zombie sasquatch, I swear to God. Please check it out!)
And that's all I can think of right now.
I'll be back later (tomorrow? next day?) to ramble about tv shows and whatnot. Don't worry. We're on season #3 of Justified and I am ALL AFLAME with the fangirl glow. So you'll definitely be hearing about that.
* Last year's tally: Four books released (including Fort Freak), one book written, one book tour, more than a dozen out-of-state trips, and a full-time long-distance day-job of a super-secret nature which will likely remain super-secret for the foreseeable future, maybe indefinitely.
** I realize that laundry doesn't seem like a super huge accomplishment, but let me add the following - we live on the top floor of an old building with 9-foot ceilings and no elevator, and the laundry room is in the basement. Several loads of laundry are roughly equal to climbing Mt. Ranier. I totally bet. Anyway, it's no small undertaking and believe me, this was a LOT of laundry.
March 23, 2012
Preoccupation and Procrastination
I'm not even going to pretend I did anything productive today, apart from taking out the trash and making the bed. I got up a little early, then went back to bed and crashed for a nap after breakfast, and though I wish I hadn't lost the middle of the day, I do feel better. I think I might be on the road to recovery. And it's about damn time.
Anyway, I entertained myself this afternoon by fixating on the remodeling I cannot wait to do to the house I cannot wait to move into.
We're not going nuts or anything - mostly settling for some painting. But we do have one thing which must go ASAP, and that would be the the Unfortunate Master Bath. We call it the Unfortunate Master Bath because the lovely people who live in the house right now have done a marvelous job remodeling/restoring the place room by room, but they had not yet gotten to the Unfortunate Master Bath ... which was last redone sometime in the eighties.
And it shows.
Imagine, if you will, a perfectly serviceable space - a bathroom with a traditional tub/shower combo and Jack/Jill sinks. Now imagine that some damn fool threw down what can best be described as a hard-form plastic creamy peach counter-top with white/silver marbling and molded sinks that have SUPER CLASSY light bulbs installed underneath them. Why? So you can, I don't know ... turn off the overhead, shut the door, and pretend you're a witch with a bubbling, festively shell-shaped cauldron or something.
Laugh an evil laugh, people. It's either that, or cry.
Add to this some Wall O' Mirror plus mirrored linen closet doors, and off-white linoleum with brown cross-hatching - and you've got yourself a place I don't particularly want to pee in.
(It's extra-striking in contrast to the other bathroom, which has been restored/remodeled to a positively divine degree. Let me put it this way: upon seeing the other one, my husband declared it his "platonic ideal of a bathroom." It is verra nice.)
So although I won't be in this place for another five weeks (but counting down!), I'm already plotting ways in which the Unfortunate Master Bath can be redeemed. We'll leave the plumbing/electrical/whatnot in place, and leave the layout as-is; but I'd love to pull out that tub and install a nice tile shower - given that we already have a (awesome, cast-iron, with footies) tub in the other bathroom. The linoleum has to go, in favor of a more appropriate tile floor, and the Jack/Jill vanity will be ejected with great prejudice.
And all of this will be replaced with ... what, exactly? We aren't sure.*
I'm be dragging my fabulous dad out from Kentucky to have a look-see at the set-up, as he's the King of DIY and has tackled such projects before with great success. But in advance of all the dirty work, I've done something I swore I wouldn't do: I've started a Pinterest page to keep track of ideas, thoughts, and whatnot.
It's not very interesting unless you like bathrooms. (Or furniture wishlists.) And it won't tell you anything you don't already know about me, which is to say, I am an old goth at heart and I like Victorian(style) furnishings.
But if you're dying to check it out or something, well, here you go.
To be honest, I've found it rather helpful when it comes to refining what I want, what will work, and what I'd actually like to see in that space. So although I originally dismissed Pinterest as "kind of useless," I've given it a shot and so far, so good.
Join me there, if you like.
* I want something that complements the vibe of a late Victorian, but is a little cleaner (stylistically speaking). I'm thinking of a color palate with grays, off-whites, and an accent punch of something richer and darker - maybe aubergine or eggplant. This will be in keeping with the rest of the house's color family without being too "matchy-matchy."
Anyway, I entertained myself this afternoon by fixating on the remodeling I cannot wait to do to the house I cannot wait to move into.
We're not going nuts or anything - mostly settling for some painting. But we do have one thing which must go ASAP, and that would be the the Unfortunate Master Bath. We call it the Unfortunate Master Bath because the lovely people who live in the house right now have done a marvelous job remodeling/restoring the place room by room, but they had not yet gotten to the Unfortunate Master Bath ... which was last redone sometime in the eighties.
And it shows.
Imagine, if you will, a perfectly serviceable space - a bathroom with a traditional tub/shower combo and Jack/Jill sinks. Now imagine that some damn fool threw down what can best be described as a hard-form plastic creamy peach counter-top with white/silver marbling and molded sinks that have SUPER CLASSY light bulbs installed underneath them. Why? So you can, I don't know ... turn off the overhead, shut the door, and pretend you're a witch with a bubbling, festively shell-shaped cauldron or something.
Laugh an evil laugh, people. It's either that, or cry.
Add to this some Wall O' Mirror plus mirrored linen closet doors, and off-white linoleum with brown cross-hatching - and you've got yourself a place I don't particularly want to pee in.
(It's extra-striking in contrast to the other bathroom, which has been restored/remodeled to a positively divine degree. Let me put it this way: upon seeing the other one, my husband declared it his "platonic ideal of a bathroom." It is verra nice.)
So although I won't be in this place for another five weeks (but counting down!), I'm already plotting ways in which the Unfortunate Master Bath can be redeemed. We'll leave the plumbing/electrical/whatnot in place, and leave the layout as-is; but I'd love to pull out that tub and install a nice tile shower - given that we already have a (awesome, cast-iron, with footies) tub in the other bathroom. The linoleum has to go, in favor of a more appropriate tile floor, and the Jack/Jill vanity will be ejected with great prejudice.
And all of this will be replaced with ... what, exactly? We aren't sure.*
I'm be dragging my fabulous dad out from Kentucky to have a look-see at the set-up, as he's the King of DIY and has tackled such projects before with great success. But in advance of all the dirty work, I've done something I swore I wouldn't do: I've started a Pinterest page to keep track of ideas, thoughts, and whatnot.
It's not very interesting unless you like bathrooms. (Or furniture wishlists.) And it won't tell you anything you don't already know about me, which is to say, I am an old goth at heart and I like Victorian(style) furnishings.
But if you're dying to check it out or something, well, here you go.
To be honest, I've found it rather helpful when it comes to refining what I want, what will work, and what I'd actually like to see in that space. So although I originally dismissed Pinterest as "kind of useless," I've given it a shot and so far, so good.
Join me there, if you like.
* I want something that complements the vibe of a late Victorian, but is a little cleaner (stylistically speaking). I'm thinking of a color palate with grays, off-whites, and an accent punch of something richer and darker - maybe aubergine or eggplant. This will be in keeping with the rest of the house's color family without being too "matchy-matchy."
March 22, 2012
Yet more Ninjas vs. Aliens metrics
Here's recent progress on my comic/sci-fi young adult project where a girl becomes a ninja and fights aliens with much ass-kicking and many LOLs but not a whole lot of kissing (or any kissing, to be frank) plus BONUS Bruce Lee's ghost, a vintage Thunderbird, zenlightenment on the fly, and fat stacks of Cool Ranch Doritos.
Project: Ninja Planet
Deadline: Sooner or Later
New words written: 2368 (Better, if not stellar.)
Present total word count: 27,040 words
Things accomplished in fiction: Caught up to Paulie, the alien abduction victim/survivor who is in one hell of a pissy mood; negotiated tentative peace between Paulie and Walter, the FBI agent; got Paulie to start telling his story.
Things accomplished in real life: Went to the bank; went to the post office; burned through only half a box of tissues so I must be improving, right?; did some internet research on bathroom remodeling oops I mean aliens or martial arts or something; took a brief nap with the kitty.
Other: Check it out - John DeNardo's Book Cover Smackdown (at SF Signal) pits INEXPLICABLES against some fine opponents - The Burning Man, The Inexplicables, and Deadfall Hotel: FIGHT!
Project: Ninja Planet
Deadline: Sooner or Later
New words written: 2368 (Better, if not stellar.)
Present total word count: 27,040 words
Things accomplished in fiction: Caught up to Paulie, the alien abduction victim/survivor who is in one hell of a pissy mood; negotiated tentative peace between Paulie and Walter, the FBI agent; got Paulie to start telling his story.
Things accomplished in real life: Went to the bank; went to the post office; burned through only half a box of tissues so I must be improving, right?; did some internet research on bathroom remodeling oops I mean aliens or martial arts or something; took a brief nap with the kitty.
Other: Check it out - John DeNardo's Book Cover Smackdown (at SF Signal) pits INEXPLICABLES against some fine opponents - The Burning Man, The Inexplicables, and Deadfall Hotel: FIGHT!
It's awards season, so here comes the shameless self-promotion
Hello everyone! It's awards season and this is my job, so please click through and take a peek if you are so inclined. Don't worry - it's short! I only published a couple of things this year, and I in
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