Drollerie’s ‘zine is up and readable! There’s a TON of great stories and such in there so go, scurry, read! I’m honored to have a short story there, so this isn’t entirely altruistic, lol.  Widow’s Walk is in there, waiting.

I had a *ton* of entries on here just…poof, vanish!  I’ll see what I can do to restore them… in the mean time, if you’ve seen ‘em, send them home! They’re sorely missed!

(the quote is from Barthes)

Well, I’m doing it again… I’m working on a novel for NaNoWriMo.  I figured, since the first one worked out so well (hey, it’s finally getting published! Whooo! Two years and untold queries later, Drollerie was the fantabulous publishing house that accepted it and I’m still giddy about it!), let’s try again.  I have so many ideas to work on that I get paralyzed with panic in my writing, though!  I want to work on x, no y! Wait, what about ABC and D?  *sigh*  Could be worse… could be totally and utterly blank.  Check out www.nanowrimo.org if you’re a glutton for punishment!

Nothing But Red has extended the submission deadline till December 1, 2007.  If you haven’t read about this project or the impetus behind it, you can find out more here…

http://nothingbutred.wordpress.com/nbr-press-room/

(and I’m not affiliated with Nothing But Red in any way other than being a big supporter of the movement and project)

Long time no post!  Mea maxima culpa!  *wink*  Real Life ™ has been insane and it’s become one of those things where Real Life ™ and Writer Life ™ has blurred into one!  Which is exciting and scary at the same time, lol!  I’ve finally admitted to friends and family that I read romance novels.  Say it loud, say it proud.  It horrified a professor that I do this and not something weighter like immersing myself in Forester or Woolf.  While I do appreciate Woolf and Forester and numerous classics and modern novels, there’s times when nothing beats a good romance novel (or a bad one if you’re in a mood for a laugh).  That said… do you feel any writing is art or just elevated forms, as the nabobs say?

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Maybe it’s because I’m all giddy over finally being published but I’m not having the mental spaz about writing long term papers like I usually do.  I’m finally back in grad school after five years or so out of it and I have three twenty page papers and one fifteen page paper due within the next six weeks.  Nervous?  Nope.  Not even a little.  Not even when I remember I also have two articles to do for “other job” and I get to start editing soon on Unseelie.  Not even a bit.  Stressed? Eh, no more than usual.  I think it’s one of those confidence things–if you think you can do it, you can do it.  Once you start thinking it’s impossible… that’s where the problems start.

So sign up for NaNoWriMo begins soon… That’s how Unseelie got started, as an entry for that! I think that this is an excellent time to work on another book, short story, or any literary ramblings if you get the opportunity: there’s no prize, no promise of glory, but NaNoWriMo DOES give you a sense of deadline, of urgency (well, it did me anyway, ha ha).   You have one month, starting in November, to write a novella/novel/work of your choice.  No editing is required and only you see the final results.  It’s a great motivator if you get the opportunity!

Some days, you really need to just say screw it and do something for just yourself.  Ignore the phone, ignore non-vital appointments, pick up a book and read or whatever makes you happy.  I’m in a lull before the storm right now (have four major papers due, about to tell my favorite students I have to put their class on hold for the rest of the semester so I don’t suffer in grad school, about to start some major editing on Unseelie…) so I’ve decided that tomorrow is my “screw it” day.  After the acupuncture appointment (which I find to be very relaxing, actually), I’m coming home, getting a glass of sweet tea and a good romance novel, and spending the day vegged out.  I highly recommend it to all…

I’m rather knee deep in Virginia Woolf and the Bloomsbury group due to my graduate school courses right now and it has been an eye opening experience.  As much as I loved Woolf before, I have never truly analyzed her writings.  If you ever have the opportunity to read A Room of One’s Own, do!  I won’t dwell overlong on it here other than to mention her story of Shakespeare’s (fictional) sister, Judith.  It’s so easy to assume or presume that a woman of his talent would have been just as accepted and famous as Shakespeare himself.  But we forget that, in the Elizabethan age and even for decades after, women were nothing more than slaves and property and it was well and truly rare for a woman to write or speak openly under her own name (witness Jane Austen’s nom de plume of “An Unknown Lady”).  What *would* things have been like had women had the freedom to write, to create openly?  What roads would have been paved?  Woolf wanted to be seen as a writer, not a woman-writer.  Have we achieved that in today’s world, or are we still keeping our voices anonymous and dividing into camps based on gender in our writing?