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I really, really need to go work on the laundry -- I ordered Vince to take Dorian outside to play, and to his resentful "what are you going to do?" I snippily replied I had to fold laundry --...
Posted by Summer at 08:04 PM
Posted to Summertime
It's now noon on Halloween, and I've been home for 10.5 hours. After a whopping five straight hours of sleep, I've got my third load of laundry in the wash (how is is possible that I did a load of ...
Posted by Summer at 05:20 PM
Posted to Summertime
Well, it's not quite Halloween. But I do have a party to go to tonight, so it might as well be. I wish it wasn't so blasted HOT though. What kind of Halloween is hot and muggy? So, the fact that I have watched so much horror this week it isn't even ...
Posted by LadyLitBlitzin at 09:49 PM
Posted to LitBlitz
Seeing how we're creative types, I was wondering about any opinions on this integral tool of the trade. I toil on a (sadly) ancient iMac here at home -- I think the first model that ever came out of the gate -- and plan on upgrading to a brand-new ...
Posted by LadyLitBlitzin at 06:40 AM
Posted to LitBlitz
I'll be home sometime today, but I don't know if I'll have time to blog. Probably not. So for your viewing pleasure, here are some photos from the trip we took to the Outer Banks last October, when Dorian was nine months old.<...
Posted by Summer at 05:00 AM
Posted to Summertime
The Fourth Turning by William Strauss and Neil Howe This is one in a series of books by Strauss and Howe (Wikipedia) that looks at American history based on the cycles of generations, such as GenX, Boomers, etc.. It proposes...
Posted by Stephen at 09:50 AM
Posted to CoolReading
It's been a long, long time since I've gotten more than just a little tiddly, but back in high school and college and grad school, I was a lush. I was a big ol' drunken fool. I did some really ...
Posted by Summer at 05:00 AM
Posted to Summertime
Well, it makes kind of an incendiary headline, doesn't it? I ran across something interesting today. The two big bookstore chains, Barnes & Noble and Borders, both warned about their upcoming quarterly sales because of a) the hurricane (...
Posted by LadyLitBlitzin at 03:54 AM
Posted to LitBlitz
I'm afraid these stockpiled entries are a bit boring... perhaps I'll need to dig back into my scandalous past and pull out another story, but for now, here's more inane chatter from the boring mother ...
Posted by Summer at 05:00 AM
Posted to Summertime
... of defeat. I got the rejection from The New Yorker today. And it was a form rejection too, in the worst possible form. So in retrospect, they're not all that late in responding, though later than I would have imagined. Jen, I hope you have ...
Posted by LadyLitBlitzin at 11:51 PM
Posted to LitBlitz
Just a random listing of things Dorian says.Flying machines (airplanes, helicopters) are "ah-ma", for some reason. Anything with wheels -- from a tractor to a truck to a ...
Posted by Summer at 05:00 AM
Posted to Summertime
I'd like to revisit an old question I posed a while back, that nobody responded to at the time. (Maybe it's a really crappy question that only I think is a good one, ha.) Would Moby Dick have been better if it had been written today -- with word ...
Posted by LadyLitBlitzin at 03:32 AM
Posted to LitBlitz
And then, as she continued counting each copper penny, he reached into his pocket, and slammed a handful more on the table. ...
Posted by brian at 02:06 PM
Posted to Bibliotechno
I also have the e-mail intruders to deal with and they are another, more difficult, story. I'm going to lock down that address, filter out anyone who isn't on an authorized list.
Posted by brian at 11:27 AM
Posted to Bibliotechno
It's funny, I remember so many of the details of the worst date I ever went on, but not the name of the guy I was with. What was it? Eh, it doesn't matter. I'll call him Joe, just cause that's ...
Posted by Summer at 05:00 AM
Posted to Summertime
It's awful tough chasing after my little buddy, I barely have time to update his blog. Here's a quick recap of what he' s been up to: Walking? Not quite yet. He is in the cruising stage, where he stands himself up on some (usually) ...
Posted by Alex at 07:37 PM
Posted to BabyJoe
It came to me without super powers, stripped of cape and tights. Just a story of several generations tied to that most American preoccupation, baseball.
Posted by brian at 02:07 PM
Posted to Bibliotechno
This is yet another of my written-in-advance entries. In real time, I just wrote the pirate entry, so I'm in the mood for a bit of fluff....
Posted by Summer at 05:00 AM
Posted to Summertime
I recently got a copy of Grand Street in order to check it out as a market. (Which of course, was part of the original goal of this blog, above and beyond simple bitching and ranting.) I got promptly sidetracked by other demands, like reading <...
Posted by LadyLitBlitzin at 05:40 PM
Posted to LitBlitz
100 Things About Me!I like to command the dog with lines from hip-hop songs, e.g. "Olga, back that thing up".
Posted by Summer at 05:00 AM
Posted to Summertime
Well, October's running out so it's almost time to start NaNoWriMo, that is National Novel Writing Month. I just registered last night, so the challenge is almost on. I saw with interest that on Blogger's dashboard, they're challenging people to ...
Posted by LadyLitBlitzin at 03:05 PM
Posted to LitBlitz
Ever since I had to go on bedrest for my first pregnancy -- or really, ever since we got cable -- I've been slowly becoming more and more of a TV addict. Unfortunately, I tend to like to watch crap, ...
Posted by Summer at 05:00 AM
Posted to Summertime
Blah
Posted by Slidge at 05:18 PM
Posted to GoFYourself
Today I'm leaving for a week-long vacation. We've rented a townhouse in Kitty Hawk, on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, and we're going down for a week of doing nothing more productive than digging ...
Posted by Summer at 05:00 AM
Posted to Summertime
Speaking of contests, I can't say my track record has been great, but I did win one back in like, 1991 or so. It was a contest for new writers thrown by Byline magazine -- I'm not even sure if that magazine is still around. The prize didn't include ...
Posted by LadyLitBlitzin at 12:44 AM
Posted to LitBlitz
I love my redhaired mama-friend. I was supposed to host our neighborhood playgroup this morning, but in the midst of yesterday's medical drama, I sent out an emergency email to our playgroup listserv ...
Posted by Summer at 05:59 PM
Posted to Summertime
Yet I still feel that there's something counter-intuitive in the way books are currently made and sold. It would be fun to crunch numbers to validate this hunch.
Posted by brian at 03:05 PM
Posted to Bibliotechno
After much whining and head-banging and phone-calling, I finally did get in to see my doctor this afternoon. And I only had to wait 70 minutes in the waiting room, can you imagine? That's actually ...
Posted by Summer at 12:34 AM
Posted to Summertime
Since I'm still at home sick so regular day-to-day life has come grinding to a halt, I thought I'd just bitch and complain about submissions that are out right now. I had mentioned before that October's sort of "D-Day" in terms of responses to a ...
Posted by LadyLitBlitzin at 05:25 PM
Posted to LitBlitz
A few fun facts: I have mild asthma, which doesn't normally bother me unless I'm sick or exposed to cats. I don't take maintenance medication for it, just albuterol whenever it acts up. Usually I ...
Posted by Summer at 03:55 PM
Posted to Summertime
An idea that I believe offers more hope for the possibility of profitable publishing than disintermediation or removing barriers to entry ever did
Posted by brian at 01:52 PM
Posted to Bibliotechno
I'm a little under the weather today so again I'm going to defer to others' interesting stuff. Check out Maktaaq's post on her early writing experiences and motivation to be a writer. It's good stuff! Also, if you're looking for some new magazines ...
Posted by LadyLitBlitzin at 07:18 PM
Posted to LitBlitz
I live in the capital of the United States of America, the command center of one of the world's wealthiest and most powerful nations. One could argue that Washington, DC is the de facto capital of ...
Posted by Summer at 04:28 PM
Posted to Summertime
I try to not have too many regrets about the bad things that have happened in my life, the mistakes, the tragedies, because all my experiences have made me who am I today, and I like who I am. And ...
Posted by Summer at 04:42 PM
Posted to Summertime
scammer's might be sleazy and sophisticated, technically, but they aren't too subtle
Posted by brian at 04:29 PM
Posted to Bibliotechno
Friday's exhaustion blossomed into Saturday's sinus infection. Since then, I've had a short-notice visit from one set of my inlaws (requiring, of course, a manic cleanup of living room, dining room, ...
Posted by Summer at 02:37 PM
Posted to Summertime
So, I thought an interesting topic of conversation might be, when did you realize you wanted to become a writer? I guess it's arguable that I knew all along, since I used to sit down before I could actually write and just scribble gibberish in "...
Posted by LadyLitBlitzin at 01:25 AM
Posted to LitBlitz
Yep, this post is about Agents. I was wondering what people think about them. I've always taken it upon myself to market my own fiction (as we've already discussed, this has been a long and grueling endeavor, dragging on for a little more than a ...
Posted by LadyLitBlitzin at 05:41 AM
Posted to LitBlitz
Okay, really, really recently, I blogged about how I had missed William Gibson's regular blogging by like, oh, a year or so. (Talk about being behind the times. Or wondering if the whole process of blogging had jumped the shark, given Gibson's rep ...
Posted by LadyLitBlitzin at 05:29 AM
Posted to LitBlitz
I should have known better. I'm kicking myself, metaphorically, because to do so literally right now would be too much like exercise. Why the hell did I have to say that Dorian was sleeping well at ...
Posted by Summer at 10:51 PM
Posted to Summertime
Google adds the content, and the vain , the insane and just plain avaricious will arrive, agendas and applications in hand.
Posted by brian at 01:15 PM
Posted to Bibliotechno
Unfortunately I don't have anything too literary to say today. I am still reading Vernon God Little but it's only happening in fits and starts. It seems like there's been a lot of upheaval this week and I've had a fair amount of work stuff to do. ...
Posted by LadyLitBlitzin at 12:21 AM
Posted to LitBlitz
Last nail in the coffin of the "Liberal Media Conspiracy", that is. Yesterday, more and more information was coming out that the Republican National Committee funded an organization that was either registering new Democratic voters and then ...
Posted by Slidge at 10:31 PM
Posted to GoFYourself
It is only a matter of time before product placement is employed by less ethical artists, syndicate whores who will pimp out Beetle Bailey or the Family Circus with an eye only for the money shot.
Posted by brian at 12:55 PM
Posted to Bibliotechno
Did anyone else notice that the President had a little fleck of spittle at the corner of his mouth for the first half of the debate?Just had to mention it.
Posted by Summer at 02:39 AM
Posted to Summertime
Okay, I have to defer to the interesting things others are saying. Maktaaq, thanks a bunch for your post about pseudonyms! That was a great read and I'm loving reading the comments you're getting about the nature of choosing a name. It reminded ...
Posted by LadyLitBlitzin at 12:05 AM
Posted to LitBlitz
The one title I AM interested in is Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare by Stephen Greenblatt. I plan to read it, whether it wins or not, because it sounds fucking brilliant.
Posted by brian at 06:44 PM
Posted to Bibliotechno
My friends, I am free.I an free from the tyranny of handwashing dishes. I am free from the piles of crusty oatmeal bowls that colonized my kitchen counters. I am free from the need to ...
Posted by Summer at 03:28 PM
Posted to Summertime
We've been having terrible trouble recently getting Dorian to nap. Let me clarify: HE WON'T NAP. He hasn't taken a nap since last Thursday, and frankly, I'm going a little nuts here. Yesterday, I ...
Posted by Summer at 07:30 PM
Posted to Summertime
Last I heard, "nobody's perfect" was a pretty well accepted adage, but apparently some of us are more perfect than others. Okay, not to malign a literary heroine of my teenage years, but Blog of a Bookslut included this fine tidbit today: Anne Rice ...
Posted by LadyLitBlitzin at 10:59 PM
Posted to LitBlitz
I am still without a dishwasher. It's been nine days now since Vince began the task of installing the new one. Current status:-- The sink works. This ...
Posted by Summer at 05:49 PM
Posted to Summertime
Well, now that I know the story that I entered into the Glimmer Train contest didn't place (big surprise there), I decided to send it right back out to Tin House. Those of you who have been reading for a while know I have something against ...
Posted by LadyLitBlitzin at 04:52 PM
Posted to LitBlitz
Glimmer Train's Fiction Open results are in. Here is the list of winners: Glimmer Train Press Inc. Glimmer Train's Fiction Open Top 25 Winners And Finalists 1st-place winner: Gina Ochsner for "A Cloud for a Carpet" 2nd-place winner: Sean ...
Posted by LadyLitBlitzin at 04:54 PM
Posted to LitBlitz
Check out Free Martha by Laura Taylor Lambros on Barrelhouse, if you get the chance. It's a really fun read that'll make you think of wanderlust. One thing you know about this online mag, is when you visit the site, there's going to be something new,...
Posted by LadyLitBlitzin at 10:40 PM
Posted to LitBlitz
So, I started thinking about the whole pseudonym thing tonight. I don't know why. Probably part of my delusional thinking of those loads of fiction publications down the line, since I'm waiting for oh, 5 responses within the month. (Which, in ...
Posted by LadyLitBlitzin at 04:03 AM
Posted to LitBlitz
If anyone would like to ask some real questions, please feel free. Now on to the made-up questions!What did you do last night, Summer?Vince ...
Posted by Summer at 08:18 PM
Posted to Summertime
I had a coworker, a very nice guy, from Indian, ask me the other day "what is this Halloween?".
Posted by brian at 12:15 PM
Posted to Bibliotechno
I ranted a while back about Poets and Writers magazine. I had sent in their card (yeah, right, you know how occasionally you do respond to "junk mail," no matter how infrequently?) for a "free issue" and they had sent me the bill before they ...
Posted by LadyLitBlitzin at 03:23 AM
Posted to LitBlitz
On Friday, October 6, 2000, I woke up alone in a narrow room flooded with light. There's not much furniture in the room, just a lonely dresser, a queen-size mattress on the floor. The oak ...
Posted by Summer at 04:53 PM
Posted to Summertime
I'd be down on the Mall between 7th and 14th Streets watching the authors auth and the sponsors sponse.
Posted by brian at 11:36 AM
Posted to Bibliotechno
Okay, so thinking back to college days is quite a ways back in time, for me, but sometimes I do it anyway. Of course, that means it's a good 14 years since the following anecdote was told to me. One of my major mentors, a professor I had for ...
Posted by LadyLitBlitzin at 04:21 AM
Posted to LitBlitz
Monday was indeed much better than Sunday. Especially since Sunday ended as craptacularly as it began... I had a miserable allergy attack while we had guests over, and I wound up excusing myself to ...
Posted by Summer at 09:32 PM
Posted to Summertime
Posted by brian at 06:44 PM
Posted to Bibliotechno
My ass.Nothing has been easy this Sunday. Every time I turn around, some little thing goes wrong. Just for fun -- well, no, it's really just because I want to bitch, and hopefully you'...
Posted by Summer at 08:58 PM
Posted to Summertime
Okay, so it's not my imagination. Maybe everybody does think they can be a writer. Over at WritersWrite.com, they discussed that recent NEA report. You know the one -- most of us are familiar with the report because of what it said about Americans'...
Posted by LadyLitBlitzin at 03:15 PM
Posted to LitBlitz
I had heard for a long time that author William Gibson (who wrote Neuromancer, one of my favorite books) was an early adopter of blogging. So when I ran across the URL to his blog yesterday, I was psyched. Unfortunately, I missed him, completely. ...
Posted by LadyLitBlitzin at 03:49 PM
Posted to LitBlitz
Each week the audience could see the writers hard at work, drafting and dissecting their narratives by day, judging each other's stories and drinking white wine from a box in the evenings.
Posted by brian at 09:57 AM
Posted to Bibliotechno
It's the moment you've all been waiting for (well, maybe not, but it sounded like a good opener): The Fiction Bitch is back in action! She's posted a short story with scathing comments embedded as of 9/15. Poor guy, but the story does deserve it; ...
Posted by LadyLitBlitzin at 11:20 PM
Posted to LitBlitz
The Unpolitical Animal: How political science understands voters by Louis Menand, The New Yorker, [archive text] Fascinating article about various studys that show why people vote the way they do. Only about %10 of Americans have a logical political ...
Posted by Stephen at 09:27 PM
Posted to CoolReading
So, for all that I fear some of the literary world relies on "who you know," or the art of name dropping, I do have a fun anecdote from college days that shows if you're not artful, then dropping the best names in the world won't help you any. I ...