Maggie’s Blog

It’s been a somewhat dull day today. Everything is pretty much closed, and most people are out-of-contact due to it being Labor Day Weekend and all. In somewhat of a blah mood, probably from feeling unproductive. I did get some more stuff done for Brandy’s book, but I doubt I’ll hear much response back this weekend. Same with applying for jobs–everyone’s out of the office. Ah well.

Pizza went well last night, so that was a plus. Took a little creativity to figure out how to unstick it from the cutting board, but once I got all the corn meal under the crust, it worked out all right. Watched Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels. Once you work through the thick British accents, it’s a fabulous film, and I always seem to forget how much I enjoy it.

Em’s in SoCal now, and her classes start Tuesday! Wow, I feel old. Brings back memories of going to school in Honolulu, though. Those were very good times, despite the flights, which I don’t envy anyone.

Also, it’s somewhat cold here today. Cold and rainy. I have socks on for the first time, plus a long sleeve shirt and a sweatshirt. Oh, and a fleece blanket. ^_^

Writing Stuff

Bah. I’ll leave this area blank, or I’ll make myself depressed. >.O

Another busy and yet seemingly unbusy day! Don’t you just love those? By busy, I mean I’ve been working away at the marketing for Brandy Schwan’s upcoming release of CATACOMBS AND PHOTOGRAPHS, which has been a ton of fun. Besides that, my usual editor’s stuff. So I’ve been doing something all day, but I’ve been at the kitchen table in the barely furnished apartment which makes me feel like I’ve done nothing.

Andy’s got a possible lead on a bass cab, so he’s going to look into that (it’d be great if he could get one, because then he can find some people to play with). He’s just so talented at bass, it seems a shame to coop that all up here in the apartment. Plus, a little bit of tender from little things here and there is always a neat concept. lol Oh, gotta love us artistic pursuits types. ^_^

I applied for another job today. Man, nothing like trying to describe why you’re useful to drain a person’s ambition. I hate feeling like I’m under a microscope, but that’s the way the business world works. And having income is nice, so I’ll keep applying.

Oh! We finally dug out our DVD collection, and I did yoga this morning. Yay for being out of shape and stiff!

Also: Halo 2 is awesome, even if it’s old, and kicking Andy’s butt from time to time without him taking a handicap is really fun. ^_^

Writing Stuff

Started getting back the critiques on “Alien Spawn.” Some positive, some negative. Mainly, I think it’s just a very odd hybrid of genres that readers may just not know what to do with–which I suspected might be the case. I should probably stick to fantasy for at least a little while, here.

In the process of final edit and prepping “Earthbound” for submission. Probably won’t take anything at the first place, or realistically at any place, but I figure I might as well give it a shot. If nothing less, I know it’s solidly written and reads well. Perfect? Absolutely not. But it’s probably one of my more polished/professional-sounding stories. We’ll just have to wait and see. Hoping I can get that out in the mail tomorrow, and now that we’ve got a printer, that might actually be concievable! ^_^

I’m spearheading the marketing for Super-Talented Brandy Schwan’s new book of dark fantasy/horror poetry releasing in October from Apex Publications, and I’m so excited about it that I figured everyone should know!

So go check it out and reserve your copy today! ^_^

(And feel free to put this banner up on your own site!!)

So it’s been a busy day today. Right off the bat, though, Andy and I met up with Kaku! *Waves to Kaku!* It was great seeing him, and he took us around Portland to see the city. We ate at Escape from New York Pizza, which was awesome, and then we “helped” (as much as we can, considering we don’t know one part of Portland from the other lol) him find a Fred Meyer optical center, because he’s going overseas and needed some optical stuff taken care of first. ^_^

Then he dropped us off back at the apartment (he’ll be over again on Monday for dinner) and I hunkered down to get some Apex work done. Had a few submissions, but mostly tried to catch up a little on some of the other editor stuff. Sometimes I think I’m the evil sub editor, because I’m really hard to please. But I can’t help it that I’m picky, and hey–the others can override me easily, and I’m totally cool with that. ^_^ Chatted with the Big Chief, also, and am tentatively in charge of marketing the fabulous Brandy Schwan’s limited release chapbook Catacombs and Photographs. So check it out if you’re reading this and you happen to like dark, creepy poetry!

Other than that, I’ve been starting the excruciating process that is job searching. Bah. College just dumps you on your butt, it seems. I never feel like I have all that many marketable skills, but I know I do, and I’m a really hard worker and a pretty quick learner to boot. That’s got to be worth something, eh?

But otherwise just trying to maintain sanity. (And I still love this IKEA table. Mmmm… cheap and pretty things… ^_^)

At last, like a cold drink after wandering in the desert, we’ve got our internet all hooked up and running. In fact, it’s a heck of a lot faster than any internet service I’ve ever had. So nice! ^_^ I’ve felt completely helpless without being tapped into the system, sad though that may be. Trying to get back into the swing of things (like paying credit card bills/balancing the funds (OUCH) and trying to find a job (ugh)). But then there are the fun things, too, like updating this blaag and watching hilarious South Park episodes online without having to wait every five seconds for more of the video to load. Much fun!

Also linked back into the Infernal Apex Minion Army at long last, which is a delight. Glad to be back to work at long last. It’s been driving me nuts this last week being so out of the loop. Cleaned out my submissions IN box, also, which was good, so now I’m all caught up and ready for this week’s batch. Also updated the guidelines on Guidevines For Writers. Maybe this will help clear up some of the guideline confusions I’ve seen filtering into my inbox.

Besides all that, Andy and I have been slowly trying to bring a little hominess to our apartment (which up until now has looked like a Sims house built from scratch without rosebud (therefore, no furniture)). Sunday we went to IKEA (see previous post) and bought a small dining room table with four chairs and a bed set (frame, mattress, linens, etc.). We were happily surprised at how easily it all came together! It’s like legos for adults! ^_^

Very pleased with the results. I LOVE this table. It makes me happy. ^_^ Plus, it’s nice having somewhere to sit, besides the floor.

Made dinner last night and tonight, first two home-cooked meals we’ve had in the last week or so. Feels good to have some slightly more substantial food in our stomachs.

Writing Stuff:

Not too much, sadly. Have two stories out circulating, but I’m not expecting too much from those. As for “Earthbound” (which is the current editing project), haven’t touched it since moving, but hey, I guess that’s to be expected, right? Still, I feel rusty and out of writing shape, which makes me borderline grumpy. Also need to crack the whip and get to tweaking “Mimicry” which has also been sadly neglected.

In fact, making a list of the projects I need to work on may be a good starting point. The two aforementioned titles being primary, followed by other various projects. Hmm… Gotta make the time.

And we’ve arrived safe and sound in Portland, OR! It was a long drive, and we had to push it a little to get in at the right time for checking in, but we’re alive and we’re starting to settle into our apartment.

Yesterday we drove into Portland at about 9:00am (after getting up at 5). After checking in, we drove down to the local Walmart to use our gift card from Andy’s old bandmates. It’s always so shocking how much random stuff you need when you first move into a place (like toilet paper, and soap). Plus, we had the compounded issue of not having any toiletry stuff, since we figured it would save us space to leave it behind and buy it here (which it probably did). We ended up buying a little more than we probably needed, but now our bathroom has a lovely pale green decor (based off the melon hand soap we bought XD!) At home, we started unpacking and putting things in their places. Realize, though, that we have no furniture, so we basically just put away dishes. The TV is conveniently stacked on top of an empty box full of packing trash. We have no internet/phone/or cable TV yet, so we watched a Futurama DVD while reclining on our floor (because we have no chairs). The apartment is pretty barren right now, but it’s large and beautiful. Andy took some pictures:

We called it an early night, after having frozen pizza (on the pizza stone! YAY! First use!) and red sangria (yum! ^_^). Note, we still have no official bed, so we slept on the air mattress my parents gave us. We also have no sheets/pillows/etc., so I used a sweatshirt for a pillow, and Andy used his house robe for a blanket. Lol. It was interesting, even if we didn’t sleep like rocks.

This morning, we woke up pretty early, so we had breakfast and then decided (after getting directions from HQ (my mother)) to head to Ikea to get the bed set we’d been eying for a while. Let me just say that Ikea must be run by the most evil geniuses in the world. The way they make you walk through all their beautiful, chic display rooms just to get to what you actually came in for: brilliant! It was like walking through an enchanted forest with fruit trees you’ve been warned not to approach, but darn it all, once you get near them, you just can’t help yourself! Let’s just say we spent a little more than we originally planned. (Parental units: don’t worry–it wasn’t that much more than we planned.) We did get the bed set/mattress that we’d been eying, and that was in total a little cheaper than we’d anticipated, but we also got a dining room table (small) with four chairs for uber cheap ($129 for the whole set). Since we have no other seating in our apartment, we figured that might be a good investment, plus it was on our “top priorities” list. (Does it sound like I’m justifying? ^_^)

So now we have a lot of assembly work to do at home, but at least we feel like we’re moving in the right direction. I’ll be glad when the rooms aren’t totally empty.

Then after that, we grabbed lunch and headed to downtown Portland to walk around, which is where we are currently (public wifi is a beautiful thing). Don’t know exactly when we’ll be getting internet access at the apartment (hopefully ASAP), but I’ll keep you updated even if I have to come all the way downtown again. (Bummer, right? ^_^)

So tata for now!

So here’s a short update from Yellowstone National Park! Still two days (today and tomorrow) shy of arriving in Portland, but the trip is going well. We stopped in Rochester, NY night #1, then headed to Fremont, OH for night #2. Night #3 was spent in Fairmont, MN, and then we got here (Gardinier, MT) last night. Shoving out early this morning (it’s 6:50 here), and checking out some of the sites.

Highlights (or lowlights) so far:

* Our caravan had engine trouble. Had to break off the group-trip earlier than expected, which was a bummer.

*Got mooned by a pasty white butt in NY, somewhere past Albany.

*We’ve been keeping count, and we’ve been passed (going +65mph) by 9 Priuses (Prii?), and we’ve seen 4 Previas (Hi Aaron!)

*Stopped by Niagara Falls. Pretty cool, but those Swiss waterfalls really spoiled me.

*Drove the scenic Iron Mountain Road up to Mt. Rushmore, saw a donkey (^_^) and two deer on the way. No buffalo (though the sign said: “Do not approach buffalo. They are dangerous.”). Andy was disappointed, but love the drive. Mt. Rushmore was also pretty cool.

*Drove through the Crow Indian Reservation and heard some of the Crow language. Very cool! ^_^

*Oh, pictures from yesterday!:

And now, back to radio silence.

Well folks, the trek is about to begin. Tomorrow morning (Sunday, August 17th) at 10:00 a.m., Andy and I will get in the car and begin the first of six legs of the journey. Here is our tentative itinerary:

Sunday, August 17th

Hollis, NH –> Rochester, NY –>Miles: ~385 –> Time: 6h 35min

Monday, August 18th

Rochester, NY –> Niagara, NY –> Cleveland, OH (Hi Katharine!)–> Southbend, IN–>Miles: ~534 –> Time: 8h 50min

Tuesday, August 19th

Southbend, IN –>Waukeegan, IL –>Fairmont, MN –>Miles: ~568 –>Time: 10h

Wednesday, August 20th

Fairmont, MN –> Keystone, SD –>Miles: ~478 –>Time: 7h

Thursday, August 21st

Keystone, SD –> Gardener, MT –>Miles:~514 –>Time: 8h

Friday, August 22nd

Gardiner, MT–>Coeur D’alene, ID –>Miles: ~444 –>Time: 6h 32min

Saturday, August 23rd

Coeur D’alene, ID –>Portland, OR –>Miles:~385 –>6h 10min

There are a few other alternative paths, depending on whether or not we can meet up with certain people, or whether or not we decide to stop at various sites. But more or less we’ll be in those general areas. Very likely, I will not be in any contact during that time, but hey–you guys are used to that after this summer, what with the two weeks to Switzerland and all. ^_^

See you in Portland!

I’m one of the new Apex Digest submissions editors! YAY! *does happy dance*

Check them out!

www.apexbookcompany.com

So not too much going on, really, but I figured it was time to update. Had a horrible cold for a few days, got over it. I’m still in the running, it appears, for that small, unpaid but lucrative editing position, so I’ll keep you informed on that. ^_^

Started my research on the planet Jupiter this last week (hooray!) as the first part of my multi-planet study of our solar system in the hopes of enhancing my science knowledge in those areas. So if you learn of an interesting little Jupiter tidbit, let me know! As a bonus, Andy and I went outside last night with the binoculars and actually got to see the planet and THREE of its MOONS! It was so cool! I’ll be studying Jupiter for a while–as in depth as I can get–so I’ll let you know when I switch planets.

Also finally figured out a big issue that has been plaguing me with the novel writing. Now that I have a little better idea of the setting, I’m hoping to hammer out a summary draft of all three books. Also in the writing department, I’ve edited the ending of “Earthbound”, my current fantasy short-story project, and read through “Mimicry”, the up-coming clockpunk/fantasy short-story project. The first is just about ready to go out, though I’m debating whether or not to send it first to the Writer’s of the Future contest. It’s not as classically fantasy (more fantastical, really), but it conforms to Arthur C. Clarke’s definition of the genre, so it might be all right. Needs another edit, now that the ending has been de-cheese-ified, but maybe not too much more than that. “Mimicry,” my first serious attempt at clockpunk-esque fantasy, needs less work than I thought it needed, but it definitely needs some word-cutting and plot polishing, plus a little tweaking of the ending. Plenty of work, but it doesn’t need the almost full-rewrite I thought it might need.

Need to do a critters today, too… hmmm….

Other than that, I’ve been watching the Olympics (boy, doesn’t it just make you feel lazy, watching these 15 year olds winning medals? It’s motivating!), and hanging out with the fam. I’ve got exactly seven days from today until Andy and I start driving out to Portland! I gotta say, I’m a little nervous–it’s a big change–but at the same time, I’m really excited. It will be nice when our apartment actually has FURNITURE in it, but we’ll be all right until then. We’ve got an air mattress. XD! And then it’s the job-hunt. Ugh. Hopefully I’ll find something before long!

And that’s about it for now! Swiss-Log update coming soon! ^_^