R.B. Lemberg's Blog, page 51

2011 - I still like you!

 And here are some of my 2011 resolutions:

Critique more. I wasn't very good with offering crits to people in 2010, but want to do more of this in 2011.

Discover new music. Listening to music inspires me, and I absolutely MUST find more folk-rock that is as inspiring to me as Varttina and Garmarna.

Read novels thoughtfully. I am not setting a number - I cannot read many in any case, between all the other things I'm doing :) .

Each month, read a few short stories at my favorite markets; discover new authors.

Spend less energy on fails. Fails are never-ending, and I will probably spend some time on them in 2011 because activism is important to me, but there's been all too much.

Have more fun writing! More wild awesomesauce! Yes, I am going to stick to that one.

Write stories about things that are important to me, and send my stuff to all kinds of markets - pro, semi-pro and mainstream. I've been overfocusing on pro markets in 2010 because I wanted to qualify for SFWA, but seriously, that was not the right way to go. Selling inspires me, seeing my stuff published is a thrill, and getting amazing close rejections from pro markets is lovely but just doesn't have the same payoff.

Walk more! 

Rediscover my sense of style. I may be fat, but I can still have fun.

Do a monthly report entry for accountability.

Ok, that's enough for now. :)

Whimsy and Epic Things

I posted an entry about the Whimsy Issue over at the Stone Telling community. 


Also, I just noticed that the Epic Poem was about 1300 words, whereas the Epic Novelette came to 13000 words. Do you notice a pattern here? *ponders*

2011: Still a good year! with Poetry, Coffee, and Goodies

 1. Stone Telling is open to submissions again! We are currently reading for the Whimsy issue (Stone Telling 3). I will post an in-depth entry about Whimsy tomorrow, but I am really, really looking forward to this reading period. It matches my current mood perfectly - and besides, I already purchased five poems for this issue that will absolutely rock your socks off when you'll see them. 

2. Bull Spec 4 is officially out, with my poem "Beastwoman's Snarled Rune" (aka the Monsterpoem). Thanks again,  art_ungulate ! And here is a page I made for it on my site, which includes the mp3 of my reading. Please note that this is a CURSE poem (and my voice doesn't usually go like that), so if this bothers you, please don't listen to it late at night when it wants to be read/listened do :D

3. In the past 2 years, I would do a Rhysling entry around this time, with all my eligible poems from the previous year. 2010 was my most successful poetry year so far; but on the other hand, I am no longer a member of the SFPA. On the other other hand, I think the custom of retrospective/sharing work with readers is a good one, and I'd still like to share my work with you, regardless of whether you're voting members of the SFPA or not. To that end, I will happily share a pdf file of my 2010 poems with people who'd like to see them for whatever reason, during the month of January. Please comment or email me :)

4. Speaking of Rhysling nominations, if you are nominating, please consider The Haunted Girl by Lisa Bradley ( cafenowhere  ) from Fall 2010 issue of Goblin Fruit. And of course, there are also two issues of Stone Telling for your nominating pleasure.

5. One of the things I was especially looking forward to sharing with you is my short whimsical poem, "Whale on the Roof,"  which appeared in GUD 6 (Summer 2010). So here is a pdf of Whale on the Roof  for your downloading pleasure :) This won't last, so grab it while it's here! And just a reminder: GUD is awesome! Here's a fresh review of it at Rise Reviews (although only stories).

6. Speaking of Rise Reviews: they also reviewed Stone Telling 1, and Steam Powered (in which I have no work, but which I love with much love).  Welcome, Rise Reviews!

7. I would like to call for a volunteer with some free time in the next few days to read Vendelin's Venture and give me surface (rather than in-depth) comments on draft 1.5. It is not a polished draft, but I need comments in order to proceed.  As I said previously, Vendelin's Venture is a secondary-world multicultural epic steampunk novelette with LGBTQ protagonists. This is a fun story, but it is 13k. 

8. I have coffee!  Yay.

I hope you're having a great day too :)

2011: out of the closet

So, part of my New Year's - not resolutions exactly, but decisions - was to come out of the closet. I've spoken about this before to some of you. I grew up in an extremely homophobic environment, and in an extremely homophobic family; as a child, I was a subject to sexuality-related bullying from schoolmates, and from my mother. Even after I relocated to more liberal places, I felt that coming out of the closet was for other people.

Being in fandom, and writing, helped me overcome much of the shame I felt concerning my gender and sexual identity issues. Over the last year especially I grew very sick of being in the closet. It is time to come out.

I am going with "queer" as a descriptor because it feels least restrictive right now. Having thought about this for years, and intensely and honestly for the last year, I am not at this point experiencing intense pain when thinking/discussing my gender and sexual identities, so I would be happy to talk about it with allies. This is not to say that I am done figuring out my gender and sexual identities, or that I no longer experience any pain (pain is inevitable, as large parts of my life had been arranged so that I could hide these parts of myself from the world). 

I changed my profile page to reflect my coming out. I also added "immigrant" since some [new] people over the last year randomly assumed I was American; I added "multilingual" because some [new] people assumed I was a native speaker of English. Over the last year, I've been repeatedly annoyed by these assumptions, so hopefully the change in profile description will help with some of that.

take care,
Rose

BIRDDAMN YES, EPIC THING!!!

So I was planning to do a New Year's entry, and a resolutions entry, and such... Instead I am here to inform you that I finished a rough draft of Vendelin's Venture, which came to just over 13000 words. That's thirteen thousand effing words. That's more fiction words than I wrote all year! This is rough, but it is ALL THERE, and I don't know if it is any good, but I frikking love it.

What is it? Well, it's this weird secondary-world multicultural epic steampunk thing with LGBTQ protags (girl MC, boy, girl) and some pretty neat name-magic and heaps of class stuff and family stuff and gender stuff and a few golems and a BIRD.

This is the best present I could have given myself for New Year's, seriously.

Thanks for your support. And hugs. And YAY!

Large parts of 2010 sucked, but the end of 2010 was a sweeping tide of inspiration. All I had to do was let it carry me. I didn't fight it. I was grateful. That's the lesson I learned.

Happy New Year  to you all :)

Dan Campbell reviews Stone Telling 2

 The wonderful  art_ungulate  , aka Dan Campbell of Bull Spec (and a Stone Telling contributor),  reviews the latest issue:

Mary Alexandra Agner's poem, 'Tertiary', and Shweta Narayan's 'Palettes' held me most in this issue: 'Tertiary' in its making and unmaking of self, of social identity, the unreality of defiantly being true to one's self rather than expectations; 'Pallettes' in the circuitous negotiation of love, need, truth and acceptance through the medium of shared craft and art, the touchstone of creating.
Dan also talks about the images that accompany the poems - a real treat.
Thank you, Dan!

And speaking of Stone Telling, if you feel like donating a few dollars to our tipping jar, it would be very much appreciated. Even small donations help; 5$ pays for a poem and 15$ for a non-fiction column).

Hope you're having a lovely holiday season!

Blessed

Happy Holidays for those celebrating! Even though I suspect most of you will not be near your computers today :)

Why did I think that my building would be open on the 24th? Locked. I retreated to a coffeeshop, to feed my addiction to hot chocolate and grade some more. They won't be open forever, but I made excellent progress on the grading last night (eating curry and grading in my office until 11pm and then walking home - lovely). I should be done with it soon.

Looking back at the very strange week I just had, I feel good about the poem. I have no idea what people's take on it will be, or what its publication path could be, or what the future may hold for the world I described there, but after the crying and writing was done, I feel deeply happy about the experience. I think it's the first time I didn't try to fight the feeling of a poem coming over me, but instead felt grateful for it, despite the emotional overwhelm and the bad timing.

I want to make some art to go with the poem. My drawing skills are very rusty, and my artwork may not be fandom-friendly (being quite abstract by nature), but I think I am going to try that.

So yeah, I feel blessed right now, and wanted to pass some of the feeling on to you :)

Stone Telling 2 is HERE!

 And... STONE TELLING 2: Generations is live!! We bring you heart-breaking poetry, thought-provoking non-fiction, luminous art, as well as reviews and interviews. My introduction begins like this:

Love doesn't sit there like a stone. It has to be made like bread; remade all the time, made new.
– Ursula K. Le Guin

For those who have been silenced, finding a voice to speak with is not a singular victory. If love and bread are made and made again, then voice is found and stifled – here, and gone; is heard, or is dismissed. Always, always it is emerging. It is a work in progress, a word in progress, a silence dormant waiting for the right breath. 
So go read, and tell us what you think - at the Stone Telling community! 



 

Gluten-free fruitcake, anyone?

So here's my dirty secret: I love fruitcake. It is not cultural, seasonal or religious for me; it may be even inappropriate for me - but I love it.

However, this year I am facing the challenge of Gluten-free baking. So if you have a good Gluten-free fruitcake recipe, could you please share it ? Thanks.

Maahinen neito

 Digitizing Stone Telling 2 poems. This is prominently featured on my soundrack:


Earth Maiden (Translation from Varttina Website):

What did they know of me, staring at me strangely,
the suitors who would not take or touch me?

What did they know of me, staring at me strangely,
unharvested in summer, unwanted in winter?

What did they feel was different in me,
this maid no ploughman lifts over the threshold?

What did they know when they eyed me, the weird one?
None walk with me in moonlight, or under the stars.

They said I was black, that I lie with the evil one -
black, they said (those who said it were blacker).
Go travel the underworld, row the secret waters,
to the underworld, where black is snow-white...

What was it about me? They'd heard how odd I was,
would not lie on my breast, not grant me a kiss.

What did they know of me? A witch, says the village,
and the gossip goes further, a sharp wind spreading it.

They said I was black, that I lie with the evil one,
black, they said (those who said it were blacker).
Go travel the underworld, row the secret waters,
to the underworld, where black is snow-white...

The earth-maiden's mate is the earth and the mold,
in earth and mold let her kiss her bridegroom.
The earth-maiden's mate is the earth and the mold,
in earth and mold let her kiss her bridegroom.