Dandelyon's Worlds

It's like magic--you have arcane instructions to follow, and if you do the work, if you're lucky, if the stars are right, if you don't quit and don't give up and remember to read your e-mail, something wonderful might happen.

It's also like magic in that when things happen the results are often not exactly what you expected.

I'm talking about the publishing world, of course. You write and write and write and submit and submit, and nothing happens and nothing happens and nothing happens and nothing happens ...

And then something happens.

In fact, several things happen all at once, usually when you're swamped by mundane things.

For instance, recently I was invited to have a gallery page over at Rainbow Ark! Check it out: http://www.myrainbowark.com/gallerywylddand.html The work there includes (among other things) a poem I wrote a while back for an anthology that never happened.

Then there's my one and only zombie story. I wrote it for a specific anthology and it was accepted! There was much rejoicing until I learned that the publisher had to bow out, leaving the anthology orphaned. The editors looked for a new publisher, but eventually, after more than a year since the last e-mail from the editors, I started sending the story out to other venues. In a thematically appropriate twist, the anthology rose from the dead and I had to wait for the story to be rejected to let it head back home again (same anthology and editors, new publisher).

Then, because two things at once is clearly not enough, my werewolf story in the anthology Tails of the Pack just came out in e-book formats. I had expected some warning of the anticipated publication date, but instead got an e-mail to say "Look! it's out!" Shortly after, I was interviewed here: http://patriciacorrell.blogspot.com/ (By now you have to scroll down a bit--I'm "Day 3" of the interviews.)

Squee!

See, just like magic, things happen!



And now, it's time to get back to that "doing the work" part of things.

Foodie Friend wants a cape before Halloween, and I have the skills, so we went to a fabric store to buy a pattern and fabric. I've made capes and robes before without patterns, but a pattern means he got to approve the look ahead of time and it should go relatively quickly, which, with autumn things to do and several short stories to finish and NaNoWriMo coming up, is a good thing.

And I determined his computer, though it's newer than mine, also does not have any form of SD slot, which I need to empty the micro-card that is now in my phone full of pictures. Hopefully the laptop that my kid's Dad got her will be able to let me transfer the photos to a USB drive.

I also got a submission into a contest on time (assuming I did the conversion for time zones correctly) and did other writerly correspondence and work.

And I fed and petted the feral kittens who still need homes. Today both purred at me.

We also got the first significant load of leaves on the roses, though naturally, just as we got outside it started to rain. Not much, thankfully, but still, there was wetness.

Tomorrow, there shall be Fireborn in this journal. Poor Orchid!

And tomorrow, I shall look at the sparkly dragon story to make sure the character's voices each work, and are consistent, and there are no eggregious typos or grammos, and whether I need to fix anything else to make the story hang together right.

And I shall finish cleaning herbs off the dining room table, wash it, and lay pattern pieces on cloth. And gulp big-time, like I always do when cutting into whole cloth, and then cut. Pin. Maybe even sew. I'm so casual about most sewing things; why do I always feel daunted when faced with whole sheets of brand-new cloth?

Fruit Moon, Harvest Moon, Nut Moon, Barley Moon, Blood Moon, Chrysanthemum Moon, Mulberry Moon, When the Calves Grow Hair, Singing Moon.

The car is running better, after way too much running to the repair place. First, maintenance things, plus replacing belts. Now it should run better, right? No, almost the next day the brake light is on. Well, the brakes don’t feel bad, but better take it in. That, at least, didn’t cost an arm and a leg—the emergency brake had gotten jostled on somehow. Now the car should run better, right? No, then driving to work the car just stopped. I managed to steer it out of traffic (to find myself really nicely parked (!) in front of a Starbucks), but had to call AAA to tow it to the repair place. Turns out it has an “axle position sensor” which needed to be replaced, as without it, the over-computerized engine didn’t have a clue when to fire the spark plugs that I’d just had replaced.

So, I realized it was full moon, time to do an update, but what should I write? I hadn’t got a lot of writing done, or much music, or much art, or read any great books, but I felt frazzled like I’d been running around really busy…well, I did shopping, and some house cleaning, and feeding my kid who’s been working on a big school deadline, and paid bills…lots of little stuff. Stuff that needs doing. Stuff that is very bad to leave undone. But all that little stuff doesn’t give much of a sense of accomplishment.

None of the moon names seems to fit right now. Mulberries were last month, there isn’t much to harvest right now (though the fresh herbs from the garden have been good in our food), and my calves grow hair regardless. Maybe I’ll feel more inspired or accomplished when the new moon arrives, though that’s not exactly the way the symbolism goes…