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piranha @ dreamwidth
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| Prompt story! Wheee! |
[Nov. 24th, 2009|20:09] |
Okay! Finished with five minutes to spare! Whew! :P
Now, I'm gonna say this is NOT work safe, due to the things mentioned in the warnings, below.
As I said earlier, this is the third installment of the Irregular Regular, and this one has turned out rather long. *blushes* I'm fairly sure that LJ will let me post it in one go, but we'll see. I know there's a limit, but not what it is. *shrugs*
So the words, as determined by the Plastic-Cup-O-Doom, are as follows:
From:
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) ciraarana geyser, meridae suppress, marasmine dragon, crystal_lilly snow globe, ali_wilde egg, andy_slayde hobble,
pink1dragon Scrabble, molly_church adornment, aishabintjamil veterinarian, jl_merrow vile, kalitafic purple, rhyssd bad boys, and cowboygal muscles!
Some other of your words made it in, as well, but I don't feel like listing them. *grins* And just so's you know, thios "chapter" took a sort of unexpectedly dark turn (dark for me, I mean, which is really more like medium gray, I guess :P). All thanks to the words! So, not my fault. Nyah.
Warnings: Mention of non-consentual acts, drugs and the unpleasant sort of bruises. *wrinkles nose* Nothing explicit, though.
( Irregular Regular 3 )
* * *
Remember, even if you missed out on the prompt-word call, you can still enter the contest by commenting on the prompt-story. :) This contest is open until whenever I get to the hotel in New Jersey tomorrow evening, so there's plenty of time!
I'll be back soon with an excerpt from Conventional Education, soem random chatter about my holiday stories, and maybe even another contest! Oooo, Ahhh, Ohhh... |
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| "Bohemian Rhapsody", now with more chickens |
[Nov. 24th, 2009|16:26] |
Commentary would be irrelevant:
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| i'm held together by strings |
[Nov. 24th, 2009|19:07] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | tired | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Ben l'oncle Soul - Seven Nation Army | ] |
1501 words today, for infinite virtupitude. That brings me to a total of 23,005 words, or 118 pages, which is a significant chunk of a book. It feels like we're well and truly embarked upon this journey, and the characters are starting to shake into their voices and roles.
Slowly, the structure comes together.
There's still entirely too much people sitting around and discussing philosophy when they should be blowing up planets, but that's all part of the fun, isn't it?
118 / 400 pages. 30% done! |
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| I am an idiot.... |
[Nov. 24th, 2009|18:48] |
The link to the Santa hat pattern
It's a Lion Brand pattern, but I used Red Heart brand and Simply Soft by Caron.
Sorry about forgetting about the link. |
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| Great Googly Moogly |
[Nov. 24th, 2009|18:42] |
Okay, I'm reading about the dust-up about Harlequin (the romance writers, y'know) starting their own vanity publishing arm*, and as I go through the comments, every now and then one jumps out at me and breaks my heart into tiny little pieces.
These comments say things like "I know you have to pay to get published..." or "Up until I read this thread, I didn't realize you didn't pay to get published."
Oh sweet god.
You are all very smart people of impeccable taste--or at least, you're reading the blog, so I like to pretend--but just on the slim chance that any of you are not quite as informed on this topic as you could be--NO NO NO NO NO A THOUSAND TIMES NO.
The publisher pays you. ALWAYS. You do not pay the publisher. EVER. It does not cost the author to publish the book. The publisher does all that. They take the book and give you money. The only place you sign the check, to paraphrase, is on the back, is over the little line that says "Endorse here."
You don't pay to get published. The publisher pays you for the privilege of taking your book. You invest time and energy and printer cartridges. The publisher always pays you.
(This is also why you don't hire an illustrator--because the publisher hires them. And pays them. That is how it works.)
It's okay if you don't know this stuff. Don't feel dumb. Publishing is weird and arcane and I still take royalty statements to my buddy Deb and go "What does this mean?" and I still don't understand half of it. You're not dumb. Much of this isn't intuitive. You don't have to take my word for it--find the author resource online of your choice. and ask questions. There is no need to be embarassed.
I have produced...uh...if we count Digger volumes...nine books through four publishers. One of the publishers is a very respectable small press, one is a starting-out-but-getting-there small press, and two are big giant scary publishers with New York offices and budgets bigger than a third world country.
All four of them pay me money. Sometimes they pay me lots of money (at least by my standards, which are quite modest) and sometimes they pay me a couple hundred bucks. The big houses can afford to pay me mondo advances, the small presses can afford to take me to dinner.** This is fine.
The point is, they all pay me. I don't pay them. Ever.
The sum total I have spent on any book I have ever written was about two bucks worth of postage to send out the initial draft of Black Dogs, over a decade ago, and I did buy a decent pen in order to sign copies of Dragonbreath. (And by "decent" I mean like 2.99 for a pair. I am not a pen snob.) Then I lost the pen.
The only times money goes the other way is if I'm buying a couple of copies of Digger--I get free copies of each, of course, but sometimes I want to sell them at cons where Sofawolf's not attending--and in this case, they just slap the wholesale price against my royalties. This is pretty normal, and the only example I can come up with off the top of my head. (Okay, no, wait, I sent a print to my editor once because she wanted a signed art print of the Nurk cover for her office. Technically I paid for that, but I didn't stuff twenties in there or anything.)
I do not pay for those big publishing runs. Authors don't. There's a little under thirty thousand copies of Dragonbreath floating around out there. Total cost to me = $0.
If somebody is telling you that the authors do pay for these, they are either misinformed or...well...you're smart wombats, you can figure out yourself why somebody might have a vested interest in believing that you give people money for this sort of thing and who might not have your best interests at heart.
Now. Self-publishing. This is something else. If you are self-publishing, then you know it up front. (If you have to ask if you're self-publishing, there are problems already.) We can talk about this later and in lots of detail if anybody wants. Self-publishing is great for what it does well. I am a big fan of self-publishing. ( I myself have work in a self-published little anthology that our local comics group puts out every year, as a print-on-demand thing. You can buy it on Lulu, it's got some nice stuff in it, a couple of the members sell the occasional copy at conventions. I didn't buy any of the wholesale copies because I don't have table space in my usual con kit. Cost to me = $0. Profit if I HAD sold them at the table = maybe a buck or two. It's a neat little thing to have, but none of us are making money on it, and it's not a publishing credit I'd take seriously. I could talk about this longer, but we're already running long.) Self-publishing is kinda like merchandising. I would self-publish a webcomic the same way that I would get a run of T-shirts printed, I'd sell them at cons or over the internet, like T-shirts, and I would expect to make approximately the same amount of money.
So. To recap. They pay us. That's how it works. If you are paying them, then something is very very wrong.
If you're self-publishing, things are a little more complicated, but you should really only be self-publishing for stuff that self-publishing is good at. If you want to be a bestselling fiction author, that's not something self-publishing is particularly good at. If somebody tells you that self-publishing is good for that and you can make zillions if you give them your manuscript and a lot of money, they are predators and need to be ridden out of town on a rail.
Vanity publishing, which is what Harlequin Horizons is offering, is a scam. They take your money by the fistful and dangle this promise that if you pay enough, you can be a Real Writer. Well, Real Writers get paid, they don't pay. Nobody is so bad a writer that they deserve to lose money for it. If you just want readers, put it on the internet, if you just want a physical copy, go to Lulu, but please, PLEASE don't believe that writers have to pay to be successful. Please.
*There are lots of posts and comment wars. The fast and amusing one is here. The gist is that they're implying heavily to the marks that this is a Real Book with Harlequin and then turning around and telling their real authors, who are Not Amused, that no, no, it's not, nobody should think that, and the books won't actually be on shelves or anything, we just kinda found a way to make money off the slush pile. It is very sad and makes me very angry.
**And in no way shape or form should you think I'm raggin' on the small presses--I am deleriously glad they exist because a big New York house wouldn't ever publish Digger, there's just not the demand. Small presses aren't small because they can't be big, it's because they publish things where demand is small, but often very passionate. I do not know how many copies of Digger have sold, but I'm sure all for volumes are less than the initial, not-very-large-by-industry-standards print-run of Nurk. That doesn't mean Digger's bad, it's just specialized. |
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| 75th release uploaded |
[Nov. 24th, 2009|23:35] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | calm | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Magic number | ] |
Acid Flower Volume 02
Type: Manga
Pages: 143 pages
Mangaka: Yoshimi Amasaki
Language: Japanese
Gender: Yaoi
Summary: From Peccatore Sanctuary:
[V2 Back translation] Kanan is deeply connected with his lover. Jack who's a member of a special race. However the happy days are disturber when a mysterious hunter appear....?!
Chapter 09
http://www.sendspace.com/file/jcjtr1 *zip*
http://www.sendspace.com/file/nbl9rd *rar*
[Mediafire and Box.net links at forum] |
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| messiah alert |
[Nov. 24th, 2009|17:34] |
James Kallembach
conductor
with the
University of Chicago
Motet Choir
University Chorus
Grande Prairie
Singers
Rockefeller Chapel
Orchestra
featuring:
special guest artists:
Trevór Mitchell, tenor
ANAPHORA
string quartet
and
Rockefeller Chapel
soloists:
Hyun Suk Jang, soprano
Ann Vikstrom, alto
Andrew Schultze, bass
Friday,
December 4
8 pm
Rockefeller
Memorial Chapel
5850 S. Woodlawn Ave.
Pre-concert music at 7:30 with the Women’s Chorale
and Thomas Weisflog on the newly restored E.M. Skinner organ.
Ticket sales begin November 23
$35 chancel
$25 front nave
$20 general
$10 students
*Please note that Front Nave seating will open to general admission at 7:55 pm.
Ticket Hotline
773.702.9075
music.uchicago.edu
Persons with a disability who may need assistance should call 773.702.8484 in advance of the event.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>.
that's the good news. the bad news is, unless you are sitting in the chancel, there is almost no chance that you'll be able to see mememe. which doesn't mean you shouldn't come, just that you shouldn't come thinking i'll be visible. |
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| Uncounted: Rotten English: A Literary Anthology |
[Nov. 24th, 2009|18:09] |
in short: Rotten English: A Literary Anthology edited by Dohra Ahmad (white? editor) is an anthology of poetry, short fiction, novel excerpts, and essays that use, discuss or otherwise engage with vernacular/non-standard/dialectical/world English(es), has a 5:2 ratio of PoC writers to white writers, and has writers from and stories set on every continent other than Antarctica. (I had to double check South America, but Trinidad and Tobago are on the the South American continental shelf, so it totes counts.) The books title is a reference to Ken Saro-Wiwa's novel, Sozaboy: A Novel in Rotten English.
in which it is all about me: So I haven't posted in a second? w/e, w/e, I'm posting now.
I'm writing this up in particular, because anytime someone says something stupid about how other people talk and how it's "bad", "wrong", "uneducated", "ghetto", etc. I want to throw this book at their head, except for how it would hurt the book. Because I never run out of those moments (irl on the big wide internets) and neither does anyone else and because this anthology is one-stop-shopping for cluebats, I thought others might be interested. If you want to know what prompted me to reread this book now, start here (link) and here (link).
( actual analysis ) |
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| Ornaments! |
[Nov. 24th, 2009|18:06] |
It's almost time for ornament making!!! Here are a few I did last year
( more under here!!! ) |
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| Theater of the mind |
[Nov. 24th, 2009|15:06] |
Last night, Kay was taking her lights-on bedtime in my room while I was trying to clear off my table so I can actually craft. She was playing with "Wisconsin", an articulated artist's model about 12 inches high that we got at Ikea. (No, I do not know why they named it Wisconsin.)
I wasn't really paying attention to her play, because I was trying to find the surface of the table. It's a cruel irony that I could clear off the table a lot better if I could work on the projects I'm shifting around, but I can't work on them until I find the table.
I wasn't really paying attention to what she was saying, but rather on 80% parental autopilot.
Kay: Wisconsin can be a noodle! (bends doll into semiflexed position)
Me: A noodle, huh?
Kay: Yes. And he has (counts) 27 springs. If his springs were replaced with skin, he would have more blood sugar.
Me: Why does he need blood sugar? He's wood.
Kay: So he doesn't get all cranky!
Me: Good point. If only he had skin.
Kay: That's ok. He can be something else. Now he is an 'O'. A not-very-good O. (attempts to contort doll into an O)
Me, finally paying attention: A not-very-good O?
Kay: Yeah, he's not very good at being an O. Maybe he should go back to being a noodle.\
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| Release #58 |
[Nov. 24th, 2009|17:03] |
Welcome to the Turkey Week edition of ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif) lj_releases! (Those of us on the US side of the pond will be thankful for a few days' rest if nothing in this release is seriously broken.) ;-)
Features & Upgrades:
- It is not possible to reset your password unless you have control of the current validated email address. This may or may not be a temporary change; please stay tuned as internal discussion continues.
- Brand new build with many improvements for http://m.livejournal.com/ -- please test with your mobile device and let us know what you think! This will replace /mobile/ in the near future, so please speak up in comments here.
- Facebook Beacon has been replaced by Facebook Connect
- You can now add a subscription to receive new questions by writersblock
- Support staff/admins can now mass-close requests with credit.
- You can now edit your "Notes" while viewing comments (if you're using the site scheme/old comment page layout)
- Removed the BUY100 and BUY250 commands for TxtLJ, and the web interface equivalent
- Creating a new account now allows for autodetection of your location
- Various improvements to our geolocation feature
- Updated the databases we were using for countries and ZIP codes
- Backend improvements for the gift shop
- Preparations for a new feature/game for Cyrillic-language users
Bugfixes:
- Non-validated accounts are now properly blocked from leaving comments to Independent Minds articles. (Good riddance, spammers!)
- When making a bulleted/numbered list in the RTE, <lj user> tags won't break the list.
FAQ-related changes go here. |
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| Meta-vignette 24: Inspired by an elf? |
[Nov. 24th, 2009|17:54] |
George Ellery Hale built big telescopes. In 1908 he opened up his first major observatory, the 60 inch reflector atop Mount Wilson in the Angeles National Forest north of Pasadena, California. He would go on to oversee the construction of the 100 inch Hooker telescope on Mount Wilson, and began the work on the 200 inch Mount Palomar telescope that was eventually named after him.
In addition to being brilliant and driven, George Ellery Hale was a bit mad. Beset by insomnia, frequent headaches, and schizophrenia, he spent a lot of time in sanitariums. His biographer, Helen Wright, reported that Hale wrote of being visited by an elf who would climb through his bedroom window and who inspired him to ever greater telescope building projects.
This would be a charming and silly story, but it seems to be the result of a misinterpretation on Wright's part. Don Osterbrock, a present day historian of astronomy and himself an astronomer, has looked at Hale's surviving letters and concluded that Hale was actually talking about his daemon, a term he took from Greek classical literature referring to a spirit that inspired him. Perhaps Helen Wright didn't understand the classical reference, or perhaps she thought the world would find the idea of the great astronomer being visited by an elf appealingly fanciful. |
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| Matchmen snippet #3-- work safe! |
[Nov. 24th, 2009|17:53] |
Well, this is the final excerpt I'll be posting from Matchmen, Ltd., though I'll have snippets from other stories in a bit.
The third story of the book introduces us to Adam, a paralegal who once 'knew' AJ Robins. Adam's been having a hard time of it, between being single, having a definitely bi-curious younger brother, and having to deal with some unwanted advances at work. He's also a client of Matchmen, Ltd.
( Meet Adam )
* * *
I'm currently hard at work on the prompt story, and you guys did NOT go easy on me with the words. *chuckles* Or maybe I should blame the Plastic-Cup-O-Doom (tm). Whichever, I'm getting there, slowly but surely. LOL
Back later, guys! *grins* |
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| Swimming with my binder - bad idea? |
[Nov. 24th, 2009|22:46] |
Well I want to go swimming but I wont without my binder.
So does the water ruin the binder or anything? |
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| Chessboxing!? |
[Nov. 24th, 2009|16:35] |
Oscar. Mayer. Gherkins.
Sort of a really basic biathalon; a battle of brains and brawn.
Cheers... |
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South African Nuclear Plant, 2005. Image credit:
weird