Monday, October 24, 2011

Happy Halloween & November… And End-of-The-Year Resolutions


I'm going to save my sanity and not promise more than one blog post a week for the rest of 2011. 

Life continues to be crazy-busy.  (Should I "TM" that term, at this point?)  The bathroom has been redone and is great… no further blood sacrifices needed. 

xx

Rock & Shock was lot of fun.  I didn't sell any books, but I did have some good Tarot Readings, from which I donated a part to New England Horror Writers.

Of course, besides that, it was a total, "This is why I LOVE my job" weekend.  For Worcester Magazine, I had interviewed the director and producer of Inkubus, which will be out in limited release this weekend.  It was a great interview, and I scored tickets to the red carpet premiere, the following Q&A… and access to the after party!

Did I mention this movie stars screen legends Robert England and William Forsythe?

Yeah… Husband-of-Awesome and I were at the red carpet premiere and after party with them!

Then someone I didn't know in the back of the party lit up a joint, so we made quick time to the door before I had to find out if that was one of the types of weed I'm allergic to.

Ah well!  Good times.

xx

OTOH, I'm back at the garage getting a wheel bearing replaced to the tune of… more $ than I really can spend.  Grrrrr…

Till I can afford another car, I'm thinking of engraving my name in this particular seat at Rick's Garage.

xx

And I'm sick with con crud from R & S…Actually, both of us are. And we spent all of yesterday dealing with most of the two cords of wood.  H-of-A chopped; both he and I stacked.  Pain medicine, vitamin C, and lots of tea are my friends.

xx

Saturday, worked on writing plans with another good friend of mine: Yay!  On the way to said friend's house, I got into a minor car accident: Waaah!

xx

This week, I need to finish evaluations of my tutoring team, an outline for my NaNoWriMo novel.  (Oh yeah: The Broad Universe panel at the Nashua New Hampshire Public Library on NaNoWriMo was most excellent!)  Also, we must clean & decorate for our Hallowe'en party Saturday… while attending a Samhain celebration on Friday.  (Sunday = SLEEP!)

TODAY: Get car fixed, five hours of tutoring & evaluating, chiropractor appointment, Broad Universe budget meeting… figure out to-dos for the rest of the week.

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

October 2011: Vampires!

October Vampires by Broad Universe Listen on Posterous

Welcome to the October Vampires 2011 episode of the Broad Pod! 

Join hostess, Trish Wooldridge of A Novel Friend Writing & Editing, as she and the Broads celebrate what many genre writers--not even just horror!--feel is The Most Wonderful Time of the Year.

The episode opens with E.F. Watkins sharing her story of a violent act that is not quite what it seems.  Then, Rae Lori's excerpt involves a power struggle for the role of Regent in a nightwalker clan.  Gail Z. Martin brings us into an epic battle with the undead.  Finally, Jaleta Clegg finishes the episode with musings on vampire survival related to problematic food supply.

The Broad Pod is brought to you by Broad Universe, an international non-profit dedicated to promoting, celebrating, and honoring women writers of science fiction, fantasy, horror--and everything in between.  To find out more about Broad Universe, or how to join the ranks of Broads, visit www.broaduniverse.org

For now, please enjoy our display of why the claims of vampire demise… have been greatly exaggerated.


Posted via email from The Broad Pod posterous

Monday, October 10, 2011

Look! It's More Bits and Ends


Because, really, my life continues to only give me time in small increments to get stuff accomplished.

News & Writing stuff from Chez Wooldridge:

I'm proofing the galleys from UnCONventional, and they are awesome!  :)  Pre-Order now!    Trust me.

xx

We're gutting and remodeling the downstairs bathrooms.  No, I don't have pictures.  Why?  Because the H-of-A is grumpy and questioned the need for pictures, which was his subtle way of pointing out he didn't want pictures taken.  We've had three generous blood sacrifices during this event, which we hope will appease the gods and faeries and saints of contracting and remodeling… and perhaps even the matrons and patrons of pipe-freezing-prevention for this winter.

This, my friends, is why, while we do not have children, we have well-stocked first-aid cabinet shelves.  (Kits are too small and not comprehensive enough for our creative injuries.)

Anyway, will post pictures when it's done.

Of the bathroom, not the injuries.

In the meantime, today's picture is Nylis hiding from the chaos in the upstairs linen closet.

xx

Got to hang out with more friends that I haven't seen enough of today.  They brought their little girl (and themselves) for some Calico riding and loving.  Good times!

Also, fixed the horsey-withdrawal I was suffering for nearly two weeks being cooped up in the house waiting for people to fix my ability to earn friggen money!

xx

Speaking of horses, a fabulous Broad colleague, Sue Bolich, has started blogging on properly using equines in writing, too.  Check out her two posts here and here.  Very good reading!

xx

I had an extra special fun time covering this year's Rock & Shock in Worcester, so look for the article in Worcester Magazine this week! 

Also, stop by the New England Horror Writers table while you're at the convention! :)

I got to interview the director & producer & one of the actors of Inkubus, which is having a red-carpet premiere at the convention.  Wheee!!

xx

Now I have to go make 1600 words of avocado article sound fabulous.  :) Movie premieres, gutted bathrooms, horses, fiction galleys, and avocados.  Yup--that about sums up my life right now.

Interesting times!

Monday, October 3, 2011

Affluent White Person Problems Make Me Grouchy and Unproductive


Comedian Louis CK has some great bits about "Being White" and "White Person Problems" and "Everything's Amazing & Nobody's Happy" that I cannot do justice to, so look them up.

However, they were on the forefront of my mind for most of yesterday and Monday ALL LAST WEEK as I threw my (fortunately high-impact-secure) cell phone across the room and cussed to make my Mom blush at my land line and Internet service. (At least I had the decency to not cuss directly at the people despite being walked through the hard restart of my modem and my laptop as if I were an idiot AFTER I had explained that I had already done so.)

[Addendum: I wrote this last Wednesday and have since had continued problems until (HOPEFULLY) today when my modem was replaced and reset with a whole password thingy.  Needless to say, I've lost a week's worth of tutoring wages.  Now, for the below paragraph, I'm not likely to lose my house or anything, so my point still stands  OTOH… that's a week's worth of wages!]

[Addendum 2:  Also, the Husband-of-Awesome lost a day of work (and he makes WAY more than I do) and several nights of work trying to get the Internet to work, replacing the modem--TWICE!--and still cooking me dinner so I could get other deadlines done at Panera Bread on their free WiFi.]

I just want to add to the comedian's parameters that these are not necessarily White Person Problems; there's definitely more privilege involved.  They're definitely Affluent White Person Problems.  Not to say such affected people don't stress over money problems each month--we certainly do!--but more that the stress is: "Can we make payments on all of our various debts without ruining our credit?" as opposed to, "Can we survive better without electricity, heat, or going grocery shopping this month?"

In any case, I was having a pretty sh*tty past few days WEEK because I couldn't do my job or get work done.  [Addendum3: I just barely made an article and grant deadline… while at Panera Bread.]

You know, because not having this magical connection to the rest of the world at my fingertips in an immediate fashion is such a HUGE DISASTER.

It's not like I had healthy well water on tap, [Addendum 4: Ok, my faucet IS leaking pretty badly, but still, I have the water],
gourmet coffee I could make while waiting between calls to service people,
a cushy chair or yoga ball to sit on,
a pretty decent roof over my head,
a legal husband-of-awesome who has me on his health insurance and who I can kiss in public without worrying about potential hate crimes,
food in my refrigerator and pantry,
a job that, while I will struggle to catch up, isn't something I'm likely lose at the drop of a hat,
hell—a job and career I LOVE,
and, to top it all off, an adorable, beloved, money-eating HORSE* that I own and can escape to.

Sooo, I added another whole layer of craptacular guilt for feeling sh*tty on top of the general sh*tty sentiment that you really can't rationalize away because, after all, humans are selfish beings who, once they taste a certain level of comfort, feel entitled to it.

[Addendum 5: The fact that I lost a week's worth of wages adds another dimension that doesn’t quite stack the same way.]

On the other hand, this level of objectiveness, as flawed as it is, is still useful in understanding character motivations.  So, at least on a writing level, things were useful.  Gotta stay positive, right?

At the very least, it makes for a comic goldmine of contradiction.  Right, Louis?

In any case, my phone is fixed, and the Internet connection seems to be working.  I can return to being a more productive relatively affluent, white member of society. (Or so I hope!)


* What, you didn't know that money is the primary diet of the domestic equine?

 
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