In Which I Receive A Promising Rejection

My short story Hole Ridden has been out on submissions for just a little over 2 months.




It's received two rejections, all very nice, but I recently received a third, promising rejection.

More or less they said they can't accept it now, but if I wanted to make it a bit longer and perhaps draw more of a connection between the MC and the otherworldly aspect (the hole) they would be excited to take a look at it again.

Which is, of course, very exciting. Puts me one step closer on the road to publication.

Of course, now I need to figure out how to make it longer and rework it some. I'm not so worried about the reworking, but I am a little intimidated by the "making it longer" aspect. Since I don't make things longer. Ever. I always cut cut cut.

Ah well, hopefully the re-working will lend itself to a longer length. The key is to rework some of the middle without effecting the end and beginning all that much. Especially the end. The pacing is too tight, so any messing around in there could really muck it up.

How's things for everyone else? Anyone have a short out on submission as well?

In Which I'm Confronted With Crazy People

Hiya everyone! How have you all been? Did anything exciting happen during my away time from the interwebs? I'll be spending much of today catching up on everyone's blogs.

While I'm doing that, let me tell you a funny story that happened to me two weeks ago.

Do you guys have Jimmy John's where you live? If not, Jimmy John's is a sub shop where they sell delicious samiches.





Every year they do a Customer Appreciation day where you can get one of their delish samiches for only $1. Which is awesome.

BUT the deal is it's only 1 PER CUSTOMER, so you can't go there and pick up two $1 samiches for you and your spouse who isn't there with you.

So, I decided on Customer Appreciation Day, I would get a samich for lunch, even though I knew there would be a long line. And there is indeed a long line outside the restaurant. But even though it's really busy, there's plenty of parking. In the parking lot is a minivan which is illegally parked. Instead of actually parking in one of the many open spots, the van is parked on the end of the aisle.

What minivan driver didn't know, was, there was a cop in the parking lot. So cop pulls up next to illegally parked minivan and gets out. Ahead of me in the line a lady tells the cop the van is hers, and the cop tells her she can't park there.

So the lady is forced to lose her spot in line to move her van.

The Old Man in front of me applauds the cop.

The lady then parks her van, sits in it a second, and then drives away.
I assume it's because she's pissed she lost her spot in line, but the Old Man says to me she must have been embarrassed. We then have a conversation along these lines:

Me: I don't know why she just didn't park. There's plenty of open spaces
OM: she must have been too lazy
Me: It doesn't make any sense
OM: I see people doing that at the grocery store all the time. People should just follow the rules.


By this time OM and I are in the restaurant. There are 2 registers and we each order our samiches.

Then the Old Man PAYS FOR MY SAMICH!

I'm completely touched by OM's generosity. Yes it's only $1, but still. I had been having a crappy day up until then and his $1 completely turned it around.

As he walks out of the restaurant ahead of me, I thank him again and we each wish each other a good day.

I get my samich (JJ BLT, btw) and leave the store. I see the OM in the parking lot ahead of me.

Now, everyone remembers the rules of the Customer Appreciation Day, right?

As I'm watching OM, he gets to his car, changes his shirt and GETS BACK IN THE LINE!

I'm completely stunned. Here this OM has a conversation with me about how people need to follow the rules, he applauds the police officer, he pays for my samich, and then it turns out he's a lying cheater.

WTF?

Moral of the story? I think it could go a few ways:

1. All people can be assholes
2. Even assholes can be nice people.
3. People are just crazy.

Top 10 TV Show Blogfest

So I forgot all about this, but now I am signed up on the linky and an official participant.

Here are my top ten TV shows, in no particular order.


1. Gargoyles.



I loved this show growing up. To this day, i still want to be a gargoyle. Also, like half the cast of TNG did voice-overs on this show. There were so many awesome Shakespeare references in this show. EPIC!
However it really tanked once it became "The Goliath Chronicles"


2. Lost




How can you not be hooked on this show after those first 7 minutes of the pilot? You can't. I loved this show. Straight up. From beginning to end. I still miss it (well, mostly the characters). And that's all i have to say about that.


3. Naruto/Naruto Shippuden.



Naruto and Naruto Shippuden are awesome. Straight up. When i watch it, i want to be a ninja. Naruto follows the MC, Naruto, for a few years, then Naruto Shippuden picks up the narrative when the characters are a few years older. It's hilarious and heart wrenching and full of awesome characters.

4. Avatar

Spoiler Alert for anyone currently watching the show and not yet on book 3...



No, not that crap the effing M Night Shymalan put out (he's dead to me, now). The animated show. Have you watched this? If not, do so RIGHT NOW. for reals. So much awesomeness. The show is a perfect mesh of action, comedy and drama. A Comactma if you will.
Watch it now.

5. Buffy



I mean, how many shows do you watch that can pull off a musical? If it's not a show by Joss Whedon, chances are it can't. One of the best things about Buffy is she was the exact same age as me when it was on the air. So that was pretty awesome since we went to college at the same time and junk.

6. Stargate



This show solidified my deep deep love for Michael Shanks. Also, the show rocks. I really enjoyed the original movie, so extrapolate on that and keep it entertaining and it's a win in my book. Season 8 is still our favorite. Also are you watching Stargate Universe? (it's had 2 Michael Shanks cameos) You should be (Hannah...)

7. Firefly



Seriously, has anyone not watched this show yet? If so, SHAME! SHAME ON YOU! In my opinion, this is Joss Whedon's best show. There's no telling how awesome it could have been if it hadn't been cancelled. All signs (including the movie) point to Super Ultra Mega Awesome

8. Ronin Warriors



Ahh, old school anime. Ronin Warriors has a special place in my heart for two reasons:
1. It was, more or less, our gateway into Anime. After this show we dove headfirst into anime and have been faithful watchers for over sixteen years.
2. It was my gateway into becoming a writer. Myself and other high school friends wrote fanfiction for Ronin Warriors and that then changed into writing my own stories. Good times

9. Venture Brothers



Love love love the Venture Brothers. So hilarious. So full of comedic violence. I can't even really describe it. Did you like Johnny Quest growing up? You may like the Venture Brothers - not that it's anything like Johnny Quest, just that Johnny Quest has frequent Cameos. Yeah, he's a druggie, but that's what happens to child boy adventurers when they grow up

10. X-Men



Ahh awesome 90's x-men. This show was so awesome. So awesome. It certainly solidified my love of the X-Men, helped along by copious comic reading as well. We used to run home after school so we wouldn't miss it. We still quote it occasionally, since it had fun lines like "Someone's getting too big for her britches".

In Which We Find Things In The Yard

The posts this week will be quick and easy since I'm on a "staycation" this week and so will mostly be checked out of the interwebs.

So, as the title says, we've found some things in the yard recently.

The first is another shrew in the egress window. I got pictures this time so you can see how strangely innocent they look. But they aren't. They aren't.










The second thing we had in our yard was this AWESOME mushroom. Check this baby out.






The yard was even mowed around the mushroom, so as not to disturb it. But alas, one of the dogs stepped on it and took a chunk out, so we pulled it up. Here's a picture so you can get an idea of the awesome size of this.









Anyone else get awesome mushrooms in their yards?

Friday Fun Words

Hiya everyone! Yvie's back, babies, to provide you with definitions to word verification words. All so you, my adoring public, can increase your vocabulary. Something every ape-shoot off should strive to do.



I know Mom likes to talk about foodstuffs and delicious things she eats, and now it's my turn.
The other day we didn't get our morning walk because it was storming (and no dog in their right mind walks in the rain) but one of the best things about a storm is the worms.
Yes, the worms. I love to eat those slimy buggers. They are delish. You should try it sometime.

Onto the words!

Burat - the brattiest of all the burrs



Wingsh - quiet wings. Like owls



Imasing - when you sing in your head



Paliceial - a giant ice castle (this is actually a real thing in MN, during our Winter Carnival)



Garph - Graphs for gar



And that's it for this week, ape-friends! Have a nice weekend!

In Which I Did Some Shopping

Look what I bought!

Yes yes, I know I'm pretty broke. But I can be spontaneous when shopping.

Why is it in the grass you ask? Because the lighting is shitty in our house and the sun is outside.

Isn't my handwriting so super? I know, you're jealous (this is why I don't handwrite anything. Well that and I'm sane...)

Also, don't look too closely at the pink star in the lower right hand corner.

I SAID DON'T LOOK!!


Yay! A Whiteboard!
While line editing, it has become clear to me that my scene re-arrangement is not done. Oh not at all.

And I don't want to have to move all my post it notes around again now that they've found homes in the notebook. So the easiest solution was to buy a whiteboard. Then I can write a list of scenes and draw arrows and junk to demonstrate where I want to move them. If it doesn't work, I can just erase it and start over.

I'm a super visual person and can't do it just on the word document. I need to see it.

What about you?
Do you have a fancy whiteboard? Do you even need one?

In Which We Have Winners!

Yay! Monday morning contest winners! What could be more fun than that?
Well I suppose if everyone who entered won a prize like my last contest, but I am low on money currently so unfortunately that was not an option for this one.

So, since I'm sure everyone is excited to see if they won, onto the results!

I just stuck all the entries into Excel and then used a random number generator formula to pull up the top three entries. Yay Excel!



The Third place winner, now proud owner of incense, incense stump, stick pencil and micro journal from the MN Renfest is:





HOLLY RUGIERO!!


The second place winner, now proud owner of a leather stamped journal, complete with home-made paper and stretchy binder clasp from the MN Renfest is:





KRISTY SWEETLAND!!


And finally, the first place winner, owner of a new leather stamped journal, with homemade paper and leather binding from the MN Renfest is:





LOLA SHARP!!


Yay for all the lucky winners! I will be contacting you shortly via the email address entered on the form.

Thanks to everyone who entered! If I ever get rich, you'll all get a prize. Until then, you'll have to wait until I hit 300 followers.

Friday Fun Words

Hi All! It's Friday and you know what that means? Verification Word Definitions!
Yay!

Only not so much yay this time because Mommy and I completely forgot about writing a blog post until right now.

I blame myself, really. My belly is just so soft and warm that it keeps distracting Mommy because she feels the need to rub it.

spotty belly

HA!

I'm totes just kidding friends. It's definitely Mom's fault. Cuz I mean really, I don't have thumbs.

Anyway, here's some LOLCats to distract you from our (her) Faux Paw (HA!!!)

See you all next week Ape-Friends!

In Which We Discuss NaNo

So I had originally set a goal for myself to be done revising Foxfire by November, so I could set it aside during NaNo and concentrate on a new project.

Yeah, I don't think I'm going to quite make it.

Now wait, don't get me wrong. I'm much further along than the above makes it seem. It's just the line editing is taking much longer than anticipated. Mostly because I tried something new when writing Foxfire, and that was not editing as I wrote.

Normally when I write, I look over what I wrote the day before and do a quick line edit. When I wrote the first draft of Foxfire, I didn't do that. I just kept pressing forward. And now I have a rough draft that needs a lot of line work.

I did some math and calculated that if I line edited every day (M-F, not on the weekends) then I would have to do about 4.5 pages a day to be done by November. Totally do-able.

Of course, that doesn't take into consideration that I line edit on paper and therefore also have to make the changes on the digital copy. So technically it's about 10 pages a day. Still, I think I can handle that.

Then, once the line edits are done, I can work on the few scenes that need overhauls and start checking off all the things I need to do in each chapter (raising the conflict and action, weaving in themes, all that junk). So really, when I finish this line edit, I'll be well on my way.

And then it will be time for NaNoWriMo 2010!! wOOt!



I'm really excited for this year because I suspect I'll have a lot more writing pals to buddy with. And since I've got a competitive streak in me, I'll be motivated to write all the faster when I see everyone else's meters filling up.

Looking for a NaNo buddy? Look no further! My username is Falen1
I'd love to be NaNo pals with you.

In Which We Hit The Fair

Happy Labor Day to all my pals in the states! I hope you are having a good time!

As Hannah and Matthew already mentioned, late August running through Labor Day is the Great Minnesota Get Together (aka the MN State Fair)!

Excitement! Drama! Food!!!

The MN State Fair is the second largest in the country, trailing only a bit behind Texas. It is the sauce that covers our awesome (well one of many sauces)

The State fair was first held in 1859, a year after MN was granted statehood. It spans over 320 acres and has been held every year except 1861,1862 due to the Civil War and Dakota Indian Conflict, 1945 due to war time fuel shortages and 1946 due to a polio epidemic.

2009 set an attendance record (last record was 2001) with 1,790,497 attendees. So far this year the attendance is at 1,211,031 attendees (not yet counting Sat, Sun on Mon) so as you can see, it's a big deal in our state.

Here's a fun timelapse video of one of the corners in the state fair (Jusdson and Nelson Sts) from open to close so you can get an idea of the crowds:



Judson and Nelson - Minnesota State Fair from Ochen K. on Vimeo.

Onto the pictures!

Most everyone in MN knows the real reason you go to the fair is to eat.
OR, maybe to check out the strange fashion and hair choices of many of the attendees:



BUT it's still primarily an agriculture fair.

Every year you can see baby pigs:



And every year one boar gets the honor of being known as the biggest boar.

this is reggie. He's 2 years old and weighs 1450 lbs

And giant pumpkins? You betcha we have them:

First place pumpkin: 1100 lbs

Also crop art. Art made from crops (mostly seeds and corn)

Depending on which day you go you can see chickens and rabbits and goats. But there are always cattle, horses, sheep and pigs.




Also you can hit the MN DNR area and check out the fish we can find in our lakes and rivers.



But, as said above, the real reason most Minnesotans attend is so we can stuff our faces with food, most of it on a stick.
It's always good to attend with a few friends or family members, so you share the food and therefore try as many different food option as possible.

Australian Battered Potatoes

Dole Ice Cream

Deep fried candy bar on a stick. Snickers

Big fat bacon (on a stick) (one of my all time favorite things to eat. EVAH)

Turkey samich

Deep fried Banana split

Corn on the cob

Spiral potato chips


Chicken fried bacon (new this year and already a fav of mine)

CORN DOGS!!!