Wednesday Weird: Pukwudgie

Another one of my favorite topics today, the Pukwudgie.

The Pukwudgie is a troll-like creature from Wampanoag folklore. They resemble humans except for elongated noses, fingers and ears, and a stomach that hangs low to their knees. In the legends, they purportedly kidnap children, lead travelers astray and, most importantly, push people off cliffs.

But the interesting thing about Pukwudgies are that people have real encounters with them today.
One of the places where there have been multiple sightings is the Freetown-Fall River State Forest in Massachusetts. People have reported sightings of pukwudgies coming into their camps and even following them:

"It/he was about 3.5 to 4 feet tall and he was squatting.  In fact, he walked in a squat.  He moved that way until he was about 12-15 feet from me, then he stopped and just stared at us.  I could see the shadow he was making on the ground, in the moonlight and he wasn't transparent, (although at times he seemed to shimmer.)  He looked wet.  His hair was long and damp-looking.  His face was human, but his nose was long, almost over his upper lip.  I couldn't see any teeth.  His eyes were greenish-yellow.  He was wearing a shirt that looked as though it was made of sticks and I think he was wearing a loincloth of sorts.  (It may have been his skin too.)  His feet seemed bare, but there weren't any discernible toes.  His hands were human, but his fingers were very long also.

 

One hand was held like a fist, with a stick in it that only protruded from the bottom of his hand and there were beads and feathers hanging from the end.  The other hand was empty and he kept opening and closing it.  He didn't make any sound at all, not even on the dry ground.  I have no idea how long we were there like that, but I do know that he was looking at me, because my friends, (including Andy), not only commented on it later, but they were looking from him to me while we were in the "standoff."

 

After a while, he left.  But he didn't walk away.  He moved to his left, (our right.)  The path that he chose was directly off of the rock, but he didn't descend, he just moved through the air and we could see him passing through the trees until he was out of sight"

 

Most spooky of all, perhaps, is that Freetown State Forest is also known for a rash of strange suicides, where people apparently jumped off a cliff.

In Which I Hodge-Podge

I can't believe we're into week two of December. 2013 went fasssst.

So the Baker's Dozen auction went well for me! (and thanks to everyone who stopped by and commented on my entry. Totally made my day)

I walked away with a full MS request, which I've already fired off. Starting on Wednesday, any other agent who bid or didn't get a chance to bid, can request pages as well and Authoress will forward any info from lurking agents.

Will I get any further requests? I have no idea. I reached my goal just by getting in so anything else is just icing on the cake.

(mmmmm cake).

I also submitted my 15 pages for my MFA workshop. So now I don't have to worry/stress about that anymore, which is good. I have 4 extra books I need to read for the MFA residency before Jan 9th. Luckily the library had all 4 in. Unluckily no one could find the picture book I needed so now I've got to wait for an email for when it appears. (Picture books, man. I can never find them).

And Wednesday we find out who gets picked for Pitch Wars. I'm excited. Not just for myself but to see if anyone I know or am rooting for gets picked too. I'd be excited if I got picked, no doubt, but I'd be perfectly fine if I wasn't.

Otherwise, this week I've got to start tackling some revisions and brainstorming others, which I'm excited about (but also a little scared. Because, let's get serious, I run through all the gamut of feels like all the time.)

And also try and finish up my Xmas shopping.

And that's me in a nutshell for another week. How about you? How are things going? Did you finish buying all the presents you need to buy? Have you been feeling all the feels? And staying warm (I can't express how cold it's been here (actually I can. Like -10.))

Friday Fun

Hi Ape-friends!  It's Yvie here to launch you into the weekend with a post of internet fun!

Can you believe we're already into December? But you know what that means? It means presents.

AND! I was sneaky enough to catch a glimpse of my present. I saw it when it was being carried into the dining room and put on the table. It's an orange squeaky snake, which is my most favorite toy of all time. I get a new one once a year.

And just because I'm little, doesn't mean I don't remember where they put that toy. Tables don't stop me:

How did I get up, even though the chairs were pushed in? It's my secret and I'm not telling

All right, onto the fun!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Insecure Writer's Support Group

First Wednesday of the month, which means it's time for another IWSG post!

So, I've been querying. For a few weeks now. And it's been going well. Which is great. I'd obviously much rather it be going well than not.

But also, just because it's going well, doesn't mean it's still not hard. Even if you haven't gotten any rejections (and trust me on this one) it is still stressful. There is hand wringing, and worrying and so much what iffing it can make a person crazy.

Ugh I can't even tell you how many times I've gone on agent stalking binges. Which is just ridiculous, too, because I've done my research on the agents, so I've read the interviews and forum posts and what have you. But when I'm in that mood, I go read them all again, because I feel like I need to do something.

The solution of course--wait. Let me back up. There are two solutions actually. The first is time. You just can't sustain that type of crazy for too long without getting exhausted. And once you reach that point, the obsessing starts to dry up some.

The second solution is starting something new. This, I think, is the most important. Because let's say the querying goes the best it can go and you get an offer. It's a lot better to go into that conversation with something else on your plate, so when the agent asks "what else you got" you can say "actually, I've been working on this" and roll off your one sentence pitch (you do have a one sentence pitch, right? Even for your WIP? (if you don't, I highly recommend crafting one))

So, yeah. Obviously this isn't my first time (or even second) around the query tree, and while I still enjoy querying (yes, yes, it's true) I do think some of the novelty has worn off this time around.

How about you? Querying or submitting or dealing with anything else that makes you a little cray cray?

In Which I Contest

So, tis the season. For contests that is! I usually jump into a few contests with each MS and for ALL THAT REMAINS it's no different.

I'm a big fan of Authoress's Baker's Dozen Auction. I've always wanted to get in (and have been trying for the last few years). But I've never been very good at loglines and stuff and junk.

But I was going to try this year again. I had a goal of getting in (which, you know, is stupid since I can't control whether I get in or not so setting a goal for it is a study in frustration, but there you have it).
and this year I GOT IN!

I'm number 50 if you want to check me out. The agents bid on entries tomorrow. I'm not sure I'll get any bids (competition is tough and stuff) but my goal was just to get in, so I'm happy.

The other contest I'm going to enter is Pitch Wars.

Like Baker's Dozen, Pitch Wars is kind of a big deal. But the thing I love about Pitch Wars is that if you get picked by a mentor, they'll read your entire MS! How awesome is that? Super awesome.

I actually think my query and first five pages have a pretty good chance. Well, as good a chance as possible since I'll be up against 100s of other people, but still. Luckily submissions are today. Unluckily I'll have to be patient (BOOOO) for a whole week to see who gets picked. I've got some QT Forum friends also submitting so I'm crossing my fingers that someone I know gets picked.

But, yeah. I don't see myself participating in any other contests for ATR. Once you reach a point in querying it just gets a little pointless to enter them anymore. But I'm feeling pretty good.

How about you? Throwing it down in any contests?

Wednesday Weird: Oak Island Money Pit

The money pit on Oak Island, Nova Scotia, is one of my favorite stories about possible buried treasure. Mostly because there have been so many excavations of the site and yet, still to this day, there is still conflict and mystery surrounding it.

in 1795, an eighteen year old boy discovered a depression in the ground of oak island and a tackle block hanging from a tree adjacent. So he convinced two of his friends to help excavate the hole.

A few feet down, they found a layer of flagstones, and on the walls of the pit were visible markings from a pick. As they kept digging, they found layers of logs every ten feet, but they were forced to abandon their quest after about 30 feet.

Eight years later, a company of men arrived at Oak Island to tackle "the money pit" as the pit had been named, seeking what was rumored to be pirate treasure (Captain Kidd's or Blackbeard's).
They continued the excavation down to about 90 feet, continuing to find layers of logs every ten feet. They also found layers of charcoal, putty and cocoanut fiber at 40, 50 and 60 feet (and it is important to note that coconuts do not grow in Canada).

At around 80-90 feet they recovered a stone with an inscription on it. At the time, someone translated this to read:  forty feet below, two million pounds lie buried.
Unfortunately, the stone's current whereabouts are a source of continued conflict so the inscription cannot be verified.

Once they removed the stone, though, the pit flooded back up to 33 feet and no amount of bailing could remove the water. (Later, it would be discovered that the pit was attached to 3 exits tunnels that led to the ocean (whether these tunnels were manmade or not is another source of conflict. If man-made, it leads many people to believe that the tunnels were put in place as a type of booby-trap, acting as a siphon to pull water into the pit if someone were to dig past a certain depth)).

In 1849 another excavation drilled into the pit (after failing to drain it) and, using an auger, drilled through a spruce platform at 98 feet, a twelve inches headspace, 22 inches of "metal in pieces", 8 inches of oak, another 22 inches of metal, 4 inches of oak, another spruce layer and finally clay for 7 feet without striking anything else.

In 1861, an excavation resulted in the collapse of the bottom of the pit, either into a booby trap, or a natural cavern. Further excavation continued up through the 1950s (Franklin Roosevelt was part of an excavation in 1909 and kept up with news regarding the money pit for most of his life).

Today, treasure hunting continues on oak island under the terms of a license.

The most popular theory about the pit is that it is the location of Captain Kidd's or Blackbeard's treasure (who was famously quoted as saying he buried his treasure "where none but Satan and myself can find it"). But other theories abound, including Marie Antoinette's missing jewels, treasure from a Spanish galleon, Freemason treasure, or documents from Sir Francis Bacon proving he was the one who wrote Shakespeare's plays.

Of course, skeptics say that the money pit is actually a natural sinkhole, which is not uncommon for the mainland area. The layers of logs could be fallen trees that have fallen into the hole.
I don't think we can rule this out, but the strict, even layers of the trees throw this into doubt, as does the layer of coconut fiber (which was tested at the Smithsonian).

Whether there actually is treasure in the money pit though, if there ever was, still remains a mystery to this day.

The Money Pit today

Thoughts? Theories?
 

In Which I'm Neurotic

I've been a neurotic mess for the past two or three weeks. Ask anyone who's spent any time with me.

It's because of querying, of course. I always forget how crazy I get right when I start querying something new.

I mean, I've been down this querying road before, so you'd think I'd be used to it by  now. And in a way I am*. But still, the obsessively checking the gmail is, like, extra worse this time.

But, last week, the neuroses lifted a bit. I felt less obsessive about the gmail, felt pretty good about how querying was going (which has been very good, so far. Part of driving force behind so much crazy, methinks) and was ready to start tackling the new WIP.

So I did. The outline was done (if rough. That middle, man. I dunno. I'm hoping something obvious will show up as I write. We'll see I suppose) and I was just wasting time and staring at gmail. So I dove in and wrote 1.5 chapter.

And it was pretty terrible. But I also liked it. I need to have 15 pages ready for workshopping for the MFA. Normally I'd just keep going, but I've told myself I'm allowed to go back and tweak this beginning as much as I want until I have to submit it. Then it's mostly off limits until I finish the whole draft.

So the next day I went back and started fixing the first chapter (I had to back up a bit, start a little sooner for some grounding and world building. Already it's looking better).

But then some crazy awesome stuff happened (involving twitter (which I don't want to talk about because of reasons I outlined here)) and BAM! All forward momentum stopped. I didn't even finish writing the sentence I had started. I was back to being neurotic.

But, luckily, it seems the neuroses weren't able to keep their grip. I was pretty much back to business mode the next day.

But, it makes me realize, if/when I get an offer, I am going to be pretty much useless for the next two weeks. I foresee that I will drive quite a few people crazy before it's all said and done.

How about you? Feeling neurotic about anything?


*So when you've done a lot of querying, rejections get a lot easier. But, unfortunately, the good news (reqeuests and junk) also don't feel as exciting as they used to. So it's still a rollercoaster, but the climbs and the drops aren't as high or low.