I defeated the tall grass in my new lawn, but not without casualties...

First I had to go across town so I could buy a used one from Craigslist.  It worked fine there, so I took it home--where it refused to start.  I fiddled with it for a good twenty minutes before I figured out the cable for the dead man grip was too loose, and obviously the seller had prestaged it to start with the actuator manually bumped open.  Of course I figured this out AFTER I had already given myself a blister from trying to start it so many times.

So I manually bumped the actuator open and lo, it started, and I mowed.

Some.  Because the safety thing shook itself closed and the mower cut off after about half the front yard.  When I reached to push it back into position for re-starting it, I quite naturally burned my finger on the OHMYGODSCORCHINGHOT piece of metal dammit-thing.  Blister #2. 

Then I figured out a way to adjust it permanently that doesn't impede the safety cut off feature. (Go Me!) and kept right on mowing.  (Intrepid, aren't I?)  Kept right on mowing until the mower ran over this seekrit hidden pipe cover cleverly hidden in the tall grass.  (Unlike the other one in the yard which is in a small clearing so as to make it visible.)  The mower promptly makes a Popping-Screeching noise and a whiff of blue smoke escaped as the machine turned itself off. I was immediately worried about cracked engine stuff from the blue smoke, but it seemed to be fine for restarting...once I spent about fifteen more minutes straightening out the body of the lawnmower with a pair of pliers so it wouldn't impede the blade. 

OK, so finally ready to go back and FINISH the front yard, which should have only taken 20 minutes, tops, and has now taken over an hour.  Amazingly, I get that done. Then go to the rolling hill of my back yard... Where something in the angle makes the mower blade start hitting the body again.  More fixing.  And then something else (gremlins disturbed from their rest in the rusty pipe I hit?) makes the safety fix I had rigged, become, well, unfixed.  

Ugh.  So at least now the yard is finished.  I lost just about every battle, yet the war itself is mine!

After all that frustration, I saw that my kids had called (here's where we segue into the part that makes me feel all better about the afternoon....) I called them back and let me say, getting them to talk for any period of time on the phone is tough.  They are just at that age.  But a tiny miracle happened today, perhaps instant karmic reconciliation for World War Lawn.   My oldest (10) and I ended up talking for a very long time, probably a half hour.  Pretty good when Dad has to fight for five minutes in a row on the phone.)  And what, pray tell is it that would prompt my reticent eldest girl to be so chatty for so long? 

The Zelda game on the Wii.  :)

Hey, I'll take it.

- One thing I forgot to add to yesterday's list of anticipated reads is "Season 2" of Warren Ellis' newuniversal will be coming out very soon as well.  Just in time to help with the sting of THE 4400 getting cancelled...

- I hope these fine neighbors of mine do not attract the wrong sort of company with their Craigslist ad. For those not familiar, the game involves sacks of corn being tossed at an inclined plane with a hole centered near the top.  Scoring is similar to horseshoes.  A decidely un-raunchy summertime game common in the South.  Shame on me for spinning their ad that way.  :P  Shame shame.

- Mario Kart Wii comes out this weekend! 

- Recently watched the 1931 Dracula again, turning on the new Philip Glass score about halfway through.  Hadn't seen it since Saturday afternoon TV as a young'un.  Love the score, and was interested to realize how much of my own emotional cues while watching movies are predicated by the music.  I think I am going to look for the score for ipod or on disc somewhere because it struck me as being very good background music for writing; it had a strong sense of mood and motion, without being too distracting. Some of the best scoring occuring during the battle of wills scene between Drac and Van Helsing.  Some other thoughts follow:

       -To a large extent the scenes were constructed like a play, with plenty of walking on and off the set. (Duh, as it said on the opening credits, it was based on a play!)

       -So much was left out that my adult mind would have sworn was included.  Never once do you see Drac's teeth--in fact, he goes through odd facial contortions at times to keep you from ever seeing them.  Ditto bitemarks.  Every act of biting is accomplished, without fail, behind a blacked out screen or a cape or off screen. 

       -If Hollywood ever wanted to refilm this loyally, the character of Renfield would have to be played by Jim Carrey pretending to be Brendan Fraser.  Or vice versa.

       -The bats were hokey, but obviously the best they could do then. The rats and bugs coming and going from coffins were filmed in a way that even creeped this jaded 2008 dweller out a little.  BUT THEN THEY HAD TO SHOW THE ARMADILLOS.  I have no freaking idea what possessed them to add armadillos to this decrepit mountain castle scene, but there they are, in all their odd glory.

       -The words, when shown on screen were left there for a very long time.  Particularly an extended newspaper clipping scene.  I imagine this was because literacy wasn't what it is now, and they allowed plenty of time for slow readers to read it, as well as for someone to read it to their neighbors who had never taken up with book-learnin'.

       -Another noticeable sign of the times was the open air operating room.  Brain surgery was going on in what was functionally the equivalent of a garage with two-deep seating along the walls.  

       -At one point Drac says, very dramatically:  "There are far worse things awaiting man...than death."  Which struck me as a very Lovecraftian thing to say.

I checked this out from the base library, not realizing that it also contained the Spanish version of the original, filmed by night on the same sets, and Son of Dracula, Dracula's Daughter and House of Dracula.  Enough to make a film fest all by itself--if I hadn't also checked out the The Wolf Man and Frankenstein DVDs.  And each of them also contain several movies of their respective Universal Monster... Kind of a neat collection, though I doubt I'll watch much more than the classics, ie before they descended into pure campiness.  Anyone out there have recommendations about which I cannot miss, and which I most certainly should avoid?

A season of good reading is nearly upon us.  From the next couple days on out through June, a handful of books I have been eagerly waiting for will finally become available.  Odds are good that these will be "drop all else" reads:

1) Cory Doctorow's Little Brother

2) Josh Rountree's Can't Buy Me Faded Love

3) Howard Waldrop's The Moone World

4) and of course, installment #1 of F. Paul Wilson's YA Repairman Jack prequels Jack: Secret Histories



Meanwhile the "Yet To Be Read Coalition of Bookshelf #1" are plotting a coup...

 * A while back, a certain charming and respected angry black woman pointed out a mob of typically dismissive white males; I was a bit surprised to find myself among that mob.  "Not me!" I thought.  "All I was saying was that merit trumps gender quotas, and should." ABW's comments put me into uncomfortable shoes, probably some of the most uncomfortable I've worn in a while: being labeled as one of those who don't want to be educated.  So I asked a different charming and respected female writer friend for her unvarnished thoughts on my comment/position, and the whole kerfuffle, and she was kind enough to enlighten me on some things.  After quite a bit of thought, I've come to realize (1) I do carry more bias than I thought, and (2) that even at its very best, the world is still more full of hidden bias than those who are not its victims will ever realize. I'm forced to admit that much as I thought myself gender-blind and merit-focused, alas the bias shoes fit, if uncomfortably...I guess I'll probably never really be able to take them off.  And that is the real lesson for me: Bias needs to be identified because it cannot be eradicated, and to assume that it can be (or has been) eradicated is dismissive and does make you a part of the problem.  I'm grateful to the two aforementioned charming and respected women for helping me see how those uncomfortable shoes unconsciously affect every step I take, even when I think I am compensating enough to walk without a limp... Now as for not wanting to be educated: The day those shoes fit, feel free to cut me off at the knees.

Moving on...(this is a postpourri entry, after all...)

* My mad Texas Hold Em skills (aka "luck") won out.  I entered a tournament at the Air Force Base and came in 1st of 37. No one was more surprised about it than me.  Apart from a sweet  $100 gift card, I won a week's worth of braggin' rights for the Navy, right'chere at  Air Force HQ.  =)

* Going to be in Great Lakes, IL for a couple weeks in May, including Memorial Day weekend. (Nothing like being alone in a strange town over a long weekend...) Any one  in that neck of the woods want to meet up for dinner one evening or what have you? Email or post here if so. 

* Since getting settled in to Dayton, the reading pile has been adding up.  Latest Weird Tales, Talebones and Apex are on hand, don't get me started on novels and collections....  I did already slurp up the finale of Geoffrey Girard's CAIN XP11 in Apex.  I enjoyed this serialization quite a bit.  I predict there will be some criticism of the end feeling kind of cut short or emotionally rushed, especially given the twist the plot takes over the final installment, but I liked the way it ended nonetheless.  The story was unafraid to be dark and horrific in a Shakespearean tragedy sort of way, reminding me a bit in the denouement of Chelsea Quinn Yarbro's Dead and Buried.  CAIN XP11, over the course of four installments, managed to combine the guilty pleasures of a men's adventure series, serial killer documentaries, and some not at all overdone thematic brooding on the nature of good, evil, politics, aggressive violence and choice.  It was largely this serialized novel,  plus the stories like those by Cherie Priest, Gary Braunbeck, Mary Robinette Kowal, Ian Creasey--and of course Jennifer Pelland(!)--that earned my subscription renewal dollars when the time came last Xmas. Looking forward to reading the three great zines on hand....  Hopefully before the next issues arrive!

* I am dreadfully behind on emails and some writing commitments. Now that I am 98% settled in to Dayton, standby for a flurry of catching up.

* The compilation issue of The Sword Review #27 that contains my poem "Bearing His Crosses" is now available, alongside work by nancyfulda , stillnotbored , Terri Leigh Relf and many others.  Also, I've gotten word that they will be including the same poem in their yearly anthology (Distant Passages, Volume 3.)

* I set up my leave days for Armadillocon.  It may well be the only long distance con I get to for the rest of this year, so if you're going to be there, look me up!

* Well, back to bed, I guess. Darn after-work naps are going to have to stop, or I'll never get back on a regular sleep schedule...

* Don't usually watch TV much, but did catch the Ghost Hunters show on Wright-Patterson.  Oddly enough, the episode before that (which I had on in the background just so I wouldn't forget to watch) investigated the Ledge Lighthouse in New London... clearly visible from my previous stomping grounds in CT.  New London had no ghosties, but the buildings they checked out on WPAFB certainly presented as if something odd was going on there.  Of course, it's far more likely that the Air Force was just testing out nano-robots, or inviso-suits or telekinesis enhancers or some other piece of tomorrowgear at the expense of our erstwhile Spook Chasers.  As for the EMF reading bouncing around... I'm no expert, but I would suspect that some part of an operating military airport would be emitting an EMF reading or two.  Fun to watch nonetheless. 

Still doesn't explain the weird voice telling me to wake up yesterday, or the chills I get in the hallway and garage though.  Just sayin.  :-0

* It's official! My longest story (and probably darkest and grossest, too) has just been picked up by Shroud for their Abominations anthology.  [ETA: The story is "Starvelito" approx 11K novellette!]

* A nearby con I just heard of is PulpCon 37.  Anyone going or been to it before?  It's too close to me to miss at least stopping in at, I think.

* I wrote this haiku today in a flash of inspiration fit of whimsy.  Hey it's still National Poetry Month, ain't it?

Let me be the first next to say: I heartily endorse this event or product.

On a side note, the sounds of the new home unit are creeping me out. I keep thinking I'm hearing things move around upstairs when I am downstairs and vice versa.  Probably just ectoplasmic spillover from the haunted Air Force Base.*  That, or maybe residual chills from INFERNO, which was a damn fine showcase of the entire spectrum of horror fiction.   (And one I'm following up with LOST BOY, LOST GIRL, in those spare moments I am able to sit still for any length of time.)

Now back to unboxing everything I own and finding places to put it...


(*Hope my cable is turned on by then so I can watch the spookiness unfold as well.)

While I was ostensibly dropping off excess books at the used store here that pays cash (aka procrastinating about painting the wall back to flat white...) I found a copy of THE THRONE OF BONES by Brian McNaughton.

Thing is, I have never heard of any of the stories inside, or the markets listed for most of the first appearance credits. (Apparently one was in World Fantasy 1990 pubbed by Weird Tales ltd. That one I'm familiar with!)  But it looked interesting, had an afterword by S.T. Joshi, and featured some good old-style interior art, so I paid the book ransom and took it home. 

So my question, oh smarter-better-read-than-me people: Is THE THRONE OF BONES worth hanging on to and eventually reading or what? 

PS I don't mind email responses in lieu of LJ comments for those who prefer to give unvarnished opinions in private.   [ Lon dot prater at gmail. ]

Forbes on America's impending disaster:  Our kids face a lower standard of living because people in India are reading our CAT scans for us OHNOES!!!

OK, OK, They give it more depth and seriousness than that, and the facts are on their side...BUT.

As a country we aren't willing to value education. We love to talk the talk, but when it comes time to back it up, we eliminate funding for "Reading is Fundamental", or some other worthwhile program. Or allow our representative government to do so on our behalf.  Same-same.

A long time back I attended a Franklin seminar (before the Covey merger.)  There was an exercise there where you tracked how you actually spent your time/money and then compared it to what you said your values and priorities were. For me it was an eye-opener.  After such an exercise, if you refuse to spend your resources on the things you say are important to you, then they aren't really that important to you.   It is intellectual dishonesty of the first order to continue paying lip service to one thing and paying cash money to fund something else.

I want to vomit every time I hear a politico using education as an election gimmick. None of them are really willing to commit the money to it. Other stuff is just too urgent, other lobbyists wheels are just too squeaky. 

I know it's hard for a politician to sign off on good money being wasted on intangibles, especially while there's still some unpaved mountaintops in West Virginia or puppet governments to prop up/bomb into oblivion.  But you know what I would like to see?

I'd like to see a politician make a stand to let the citizens put the money into education that the government finds it hard to do.  I would love to see an America where every dollar spent on education, public or private, was deducted from your taxable income.  And I'd like to see it go farther than that.  I want an America where not only do education costs come right off the top of your taxable income, but your donations to scholarships do as well.  While I'm at it: If churches can be tax exempt, then why not universities and schools?   Teachers are at the forefront of our daily "War on Stupidity"?  WHY aren't their salaries tax-free, like soldiers' pay while serving in combat zones?  Hell, some of our inner city schools SHOULD qualify as combat zones.

Washington and our state/local governments need to put up or shut up.  The things you choose to spend your resources on ARE your priorities.   Collectively, our representatives have made it abundantly clear that this nation does not value education enough to spend any tax money on it; they are just too tempted to blow the money on other things.  So why not apply another time honored principle to the problem and PAY YOURSELF FIRST?  (ie let citizens spend what would otherwise become taxable income on the really important stuff before the government ever gets its mismanaging little paws on it.) 

I'm ready for a sea change, a culture shift.  I'm ready for an America that spends its time and energy (and money!) on the one thing we all agree is important: equipping our children (and ourselves as well) with knowledge and skill sets needed to succeed in a rapidly changing world.

And the only way it's ever going to happen is if we pay for what we value most, first.

* Back from Dayton. Mission accomplished. I can has place to live, and one I'm really happy with too. Movers come this week and then I'll be leaving the People's Republic of Connecticut behind for good. Got to see Tobias Buckell and stillnotbored in between the househunting hubbub in Dayton. Looking forward to meeting some of you other Buckeye types in person soon. Speaking of Tobias, Crystal Rain is this week's Tor Freebie. Get it while you can!

* Anyone hear any buzz on the new X-FILES movie, essentially a MOTW story set present day (6 years after the end of the show)? I haven't heard a peep. Which would usually be an indicator of impending stinktasticness. Sigh. I'll be paying theater prices to find out this summer regardless. :P

* More on movies: Let me be the first to say that the preview for 21 is probably enough for me. You want to see the same story told better by Canadian filmakers with no Hollywood lasersharking? (I love that word, now that I've heard it.) Then go rent THE LAST CASINO instead.

* A handful of recent pictures below. The first one I like a lot. It reminds me of several of my stories that hinge on road trips.  About the other pics: Sunset across the Thames River and FLAT STANLEY being a goofy, goofy boy.  You can see them bigger here, if you want.

Dear Fashion Mafia,

Just quit it.  Honestly.  Not everyone wants to look like a snow-skiing '70s porn star.

Since when does it take a lens big enough to pick up SETI transmissions to protect my eyes from UV rays and road glare, anyway?  How 'bout we skip ahead to the part where sunglass designers realize we are not a species of anime heroines and start sizing their products more realistically?


No luv,

Lon


P.S. There is no reason in the world an 8 year old needs a pair of short-shorts with the word "JUICY" written across the butt.  Whoever dreamed that one up should be on their local pedophile watch list.

10,000 BC - the first 10 minutes (mastodon hunt) and the last 30 (pyramids being built) have some neat visuals, but not enough to save this film from its second rate homage-to-Hyboria roots. I think the most annoying part was how the old wise woman hundreds of miles away in the tundra kept an eye on the action of our Protag and company; her unintentionally funny reaction shots to every little setback and danger reminded me of nothing so much as the viewer response scenes in The Truman Show.

Add to all that the worst sort of stilted dialogue cribbed from the poems at the beginning of Savage Sword of Conan--or either Groo--with every line delivered as if the year 10,000 BC was populated solely by time-traveling Bollywood hasbeens, and what you have is a recipe for disaster.

Avoid, until such time as MST3K comes back just to lampoon it.

Heard about this new album of "progressive bluegrass" on All Things Considered.  Interested me enough to stalk the band a bit on the internet... And from there, I ran out and picked up their album PUNCH soon as it hit store shelves.

You should too.

The centerpeice of the album, a symphony for voice, fiddle, mandolin, bass, and Dobro guitar, is simply stunning.  As is the music surrounding it.  I haven't left a new disc in the player for so many repeats in a very long time.

Here's some of "The Blind Leaving the Blind" (2nd Movement).

Because it's just the right thing to do.  

And because

mssrcrankypants loves him a good haiku.  :P



The Three Bad Deaths of Jack Haringa


I.

time trav'ling horned horse
splits our cranky hero like
an infinitive 

II.

verbed nouns slip into
Jack's room: he never wakes as
they "ninja" him dead 

III.

Platonic Ideal:
The Perfect Book--no nits to pick,
He finally rests

A conversation elsewhere reminded me of one of those things I hate to hear: Pretty much any variation on the theme of "My race/economic class/heritage is unique and can only be understood by those who've been there... No outsider could ever really understand what it's like to be _______!"

I totally agree that every heritage is special and worth revering and has something valuable to contribute and say about the human experience; I think it is important to celebrate what gives each culture its unique identity.  But where I get off the bus is the idea that there is some magic in it that makes it impossible for others to understand.  It seems to me like people who say this sort of thing are somehow claiming a perversion of the No True Scotsman argument.  I personally believe that this kind of superstitious thinking is a big part of reason racism and prejudice are still alive and well here in the Glorious Future of Mankind.  In my opinion, with the right amount of research, open communication and genuine empathy, anyone could come to understand another's life well enough to communicate it and pass it on.

And today I realized the recent fake memoir scandals (see links last entry) have provided some pretty solid peripheral evidence for what I've believed all along.  We have a woman who is not a Jew writing a story which convinced a lot of people that she survived the Holocaust and persecution...until she was found out.  (Let's not talk about the whole raised by wolves part here, cuz, I mean, Jeez.)  That rich half-white girl sat in a cozy Starbucks writing an utterly false book about her experiences as a Crip or Blood or whatever.  And yet in these cases (and to a lesser degree even in James Frey's) the books convinced a whole lot of people before the truth came to light.  The memoirs fooled people with the right "magic" traits into believing they were written by someone else who knew the secret handshake, just as they fooled the outsiders.  Very few questioned whether the books revealed what it was really like to be _______ and they were praised for their gritty realistic portrayals.  (well, except for raised-by-wolves lady.  heh.)

So, me?  I'm kind of glad these fake memoirs were published, despite whatever dirt might have got on the faces of their dupes. Because these memoirs show, to one degree or another, that with enough effort, very different kinds of people CAN come to understand each other.  Who'd have thunk it?  From a pack of scammers: a message of hope.

I'm just going to track the controllable variables here,  the only ones that really make any sense to.  Anybody wants to play along in the comments or elsewhere, give a shout!  Motivational hooting and hollering appreciated throughout the year.


New Words:

Despite the death flu and my laptop needing replaced right after that, I managed 24 new pages this month: predominantly on the cowpunk novel, but finished the first draft of a collab short story too.  I was aiming for 29 pages in February (1 page per day of the month) but it was just not meant to be.  All things considered, approx 6K is nothing to grouch about.

2008 Total: 77 new pages of fiction. (~19,250 wds.)


New Submissions and Marketing:

None.  Zip.  Zero. Nada.   Better get cracking in March!

* Now that's DEADICATION:  This author had herself locked in a coffin to make sure she was writing the scene correctly.

* What's better than a new plagiarism scandal?  How 'bout MAXIM magazine reviewing the new Black Crowes album without ever hearing it?

* From the Big Universe file:  Gigantic sheets of dark matter identified and  photographed.

* Big Universe, pt. 2: A matter of scale-- this neat display showing how tiny our little piece of existence really is.

* This article on file sharing ties in somehow to my earlier thoughts on profit-right as opposed to copy-right in the Digital Age. (Snurched from jaylake, I think.)

* kenscholes has a cool freebie out there for you podcasting and Winnie the Pooh fans. (Admit it, you're both!) Check out "Edward the Bear and the Very Long Walk" on Escape Pod!

* Last thing.  Take a gander at this very cool "trailer" for Sly Mongoose, Tobias Buckell's third novel, and sequel to Crystal Rain and Ragamuffin.  The Caribbean SF Revolution continues!

The website and MySpace for this "market" has shown some recent activity, which might encourage those unaware to send them things.

Please be aware that Nathan Barker dba Scrybe Press has repeatedly neglected to respond to emails from me and other authors whose chapbooks have been published there, over the course of the last 3 years. 

Please be aware that I do not know of a single author who received a signed copy of their contract back from Nathan Barker or Scrybe Press, but I do know many who did not.

Please be aware that I have requested NUMEROUS TIMES the statement of sales and royalties per the contract* he (Nathan Barker) emailed me to sign and return. He has not responded to my emails since November 2005, despite my repeated requests that he comply with the contract.

Please be aware that he told me via email in late 2005 that he no longer had time for Scrybe Press because of the Kayleighbug bookstore keeping him so busy and that was why he hadn't been responding to the slush--some of which was reportedly 8 months old at the time!--and accepted authors; he did not foresee it getting better in the future.  He chose to ignore my suggestion that he be writer-friendly and post something on his guidelines to reflect and thus save countless writers the heartache of waiting in vain.

Please be aware that I have been contacted more than once by customers of Nathan Barker/Scrybe Press who had purchased my chapbook direct and never received it or any response to their emails (one even paid extra for express shipping.)  Luckily (?) I had some extra copies I had bought from Clarkesworld and Lisa's Lair (who Nathan Barker was busily ignoring as well) so I sent them the copies Nathan Barker failed to provide out of my stock and paid for the postage as well.

Please be aware that my own second chapbook with Nathan Barker/Scrybe Press was--like many other books "accepted" by Nathan Barker / Scrybe Press--never published.  About two years after the initial publication date passed, and with no contract in hand signed by Nathan Barker for Scrybe Press, I considered that contract unratified and withdrew it from his consideration. 

Please be aware that Nathan Barker has no compunction with offering a writer's story on Fictionwise, Amazon, his own site and elsewhere for sale, all the while merrily refusing to inform the author of sales figures or to pay the author.  (But I repeat myself.)

Please be aware that Nathan Barker doesn't just shaft writers and people who try to buy their books from him.  Check out Matthew Warner's post about Scrybe Press (Nathan Barker) from March 2007.  Or just read this handy summary: "They hired my wife for a web design that was partially completed before they went AWOL. They owe her several hundred bucks...)"

Please be aware that there is so much more I would like to say in this warning, but I am sticking to the things which are objective and that I consider to be crucially important for newer writers and those unfamiliar with Nathan Barker/Scrybe Press to know before they become involved with this "market."   (which kinda sorta rhymes with "racket" the way I'm pronouncing it.)

To that end, I heartily encourage linking to this post from whatever writing communities you frequent. It would be dandy if you also made sure to use the phrase "Scrybe Press" in the text you link back to this page. Just sayin'.


* My email of January 10, 2008 as of yet unanswered:
Dear Nathan Barker,

You have not forwarded royalty statements as promised in the email copied below, nor have you forwarded any payment for books/ebooks of "Midnight in New Promise" that have sold since 11/15/2005. 

This email is my written request to examine your accounts per section 6 of our contract.  I have also still not received a copy of the contract ratified by you.  Please advise me as to when, within 30 days, I will have access to your accounts for auditing purposes and I can plan my trip to NJ. 

Sincerely,

Lon Prater



Article 6 of the contract I signed below this line.
******************************

In case you all haven't seen it yet, the new issue of Spacesuits & Sixguns is now online, including a profile of my friend Abby Goldsmith!

Some good stuff in the fiction department too.  In particular, James Bloomer's  A Letter of Complaint is simply brilliant in its dystopic, cheeky good nature.

I'm just going to track the controllable variables here,  the only ones that really make any sense to.  Anybody wants to play along in the comments or elsewhere, give a shout!  Motivational hooting and hollering appreciated throughout the year.


New Words:

Not Butt-in-Chair every day, or even close.  But somehow managed 53 new ms pages of fiction this month, or approximately 13,250  words.  Most of it on the cowpunk novel collab with Josh, but a little on my "Mayhem in New Promise" novellette hoping to eventually  finish out what I wanted to do in that world.  No more writing today, because I'm off to see my kids tomorrow.

Oh, and 2 new poems at the beginning of the month


New Submissions and Marketing:

8 poems

5 stories

1 novel query

Significant revision to query letter for one of my completed novels