canadiansuzanne

Bleh!

2009-07-10T02:00:31Z

I have the flu. Symptoms include:

- sudden fever
- nasty body aches
- deep chest cough

I called Telehealth and they told me to drink fluids and rest. That's what I've been doing and will continue to do. I don't think I've felt this crappy since I had the measles in my teens.

Back to bed.

Words on paper

2009-07-06T22:04:26Z

I finally managed to write today. After a long, thought-filled hiatus.

I managed 2,600 words on the first, rough draft of a new story, tentatively titled, "Wear Life Like a Eulogy."

It felt good to get out and write. I'm in Starbucks in Chapters, comfortable, excited, and filled with the promise of "the new." I've been so blindsided by life over the last few weeks. Writing is what I love to do, and I'm glad I'm finding a way to fit it back into my life again.

Could it be that the block is lifting? I will give myself the space to watch, wait, and see.

A reminder about my submissions

2009-06-17T20:15:50Z

Received my "no placement" letter in the mail today from WotF. It reminded me how little submitting I have done over the last three months. Not only that, I hadn't even included "Cold Feet" on my submission tracker spreadsheet, but that has now been rectified.

I began a new story on Friday, and hope to finish it, though whether before the next WotF deadline or not is unclear. I require some healing time and will not be pushed.

Someone Call the Fat Lady to the Stage

2009-06-15T23:56:04Z

In court today, with the combined efforts of me, my lawyer, my ex, and his lawyer, we came to an agreement on all of the outstanding issues of the divorce. We signed the memorandum and handed it to a judge. Our case has now been pulled from the trial list.

Wow.

The next step involves finessing the wording on the final agreement. And then, wham, we will be officially divorced.

I am in shock at the moment.

I had to pick up groceries after, and was so stunned that I spent most of the trip staring at the shelves trying to remember what we eat.

Cafe time

2009-06-11T19:56:44Z

I'm sitting at a cafe, sipping a Chai frappe, and nibbling on a butter tart. Today is my birthday and I'm a mix of happy and sad.

Happy because I get to spend today with Michael. He is an amazing man who has truly made my life better. I would never have guessed or even dreamed that a relationship could be as loving, comforting, supportive, and healing as this one has been for me. Thank you, Michael, for bringing more joy into my life than I will ever be able to measure.

Sad because my two sons are away (one at camp and one with his dad), and I miss having them around on my special day. My mother and sister are out of province, too, so I'm feeling particularly separated from my "peeps".

Ouch

2009-06-05T02:34:04Z

Still in short post mode. The splint helps a little, but my hand aches after a short time at the keyboard. I hope this passes fairly quickly.

WorldCon is a Go After All

2009-06-02T20:31:57Z

Today I received an invitation to the launch for Tesseracts 13. So I suppose I AM still going to WorldCon. Now I should really try to find a room before I end up on the street...

My thumb still aches. I can't sit at the computer for long and it's driving me crazy.

Bummers all around

2009-05-28T22:33:36Z

I have tendinitis in my left thumb. Now wearing a splint, icing, advil, etc. Can only type for short periods.

Found out last night that Tesseracts 13 Won't be in print until September 15, so no WorldCon launch.

Grr...

If anyone out there in LJ land wants to buy my WorldCon membership (I paid $240 Canadian) please let me know. It's in Montreal this year, from August 6 to 10.

It happened

2009-05-20T17:38:29Z

It's a miracle, you're thinking to yourselves.

Yes, I drove to the Starbucks in Chapters today, and YES, I worked on the novel. I wrote a new chapter one and half of the new chapter two. Both of these chapters will appear before the original chapters one and two, for those of you who have read the previous drafts.

I'm feeling good, so far, though I know these are very rough drafts. I have plenty of work ahead of me, but at least I've found the stamina to begin!

I own a van

2009-05-20T01:32:58Z

A Chrysler Grand Caravan to be exact. And gold coloured (they call it sandstone) if that's your next question. A 2008 with about 20,000 kms.

I miss my Jeep a little. At least I had one final wave-to-a-fellow-owner on the drive to the dealership to trade it in. It's a Jeep thing...you wouldn't understand. *sigh*

Home, for a change

2009-04-22T02:22:14Z

I have been extremely busy of late. Things I have done:

- drove to Arlington for reddherring1955's mom's funeral
- drove to Toronto for my cousin Jonathan's wedding
- drove to St Catharine's to help my sister pack up her life for the move
- with my mother's help, finished the rough draft of my income tax return (will take the pack to my accountant tomorrow)
- had one wickedly nasty bout of stomach flu (or food poisoning? either way, BLEH!)

I've also been reading David Morrell's The Successful Novelist, and though I'm not far in, it's been useful already. It actually guilted me back into writing again. I've done a couple of days of Club 100 which isn't much, but considering how little time I've actually been home (and not behind the wheel of my car), it's a miracle, IMHO.

The kids are in bed, and my sister is hanging with me at the moment. She goes back to Alberta soon, which is a total drag.

I will now return to burying my head under a pile of "to-do".

More whining about taxes

2009-04-08T19:48:52Z

I have spent the last three days either at my mom's or on the phone with her, discussing my tax return. She likes to do it, ENJOYS helping people with their taxes.

I know, I can't believe it either.

Every time I think I've got my act together, that I'm almost done, she asks me about another bunch of deductions and I go home and scrounge through my filing cabinet for those receipts. All power to her, she's reduced the tax I owe by a huge chunk of cash. And my accountant bill will be much smaller when all is said and done.

I still have a few weeks, after all, in Canada, the deadline is April 30th.

Force the Summer

2009-04-05T02:41:30Z

This afternoon, I brought the kids to marcy_italiano's Force the Summer Party. We managed a game each of Bocce, all in our summer gear. It was cold, but fingers crossed that our efforts have forced the summer to hurry up and arrive a little sooner.

On the writing front: not much to report. Still mulling over the notion of submitting to agents, trying to figure out which direction to take first and maximizing my query letter.

Ad Astra report

2009-03-31T19:01:24Z

Okay, this won't be much of a report, more of a memo...

I thoroughly enjoyed Ad Astra this past weekend. My reading was well attended (thank you to all who came out!!) and my other panels were enjoyable. Michael's GoH duties were fun to watch -- now I know how the other half lives ;).

I've spent the last day and a half sitting and reading and bringing myself out of post-con mode and back to reality. I am allowing thoughts to simmer and hope to start another new short story asap.

A submission, you say? It's true, I swear!

2009-03-27T01:31:00Z

I mailed "Cold Feet" to Writers of the Future today. Woot! That puts my number of submissions for the year at four. It's sad, but it's all mine. The shiny counter:

4 / 52 submissions. 8% done!

I figured I would dabble in my financials, starting the business statements for my tax return. I planned to work for about an hour then do some other submissions. Five and a half hours later, I was rushing out the door to pick up my older son and hadn't even gotten as far as I wanted to get.

Did I mention I loathe tax season??

Ad Astra Convention

2009-03-26T00:57:11Z

Once again, I will be attending the convention,
Ad Astra Con 2009, this coming weekend,
March 27 to 29, 2009, at the Crowne Plaze Toronto Don Valley Hotel, Toronto, Ontario

Here's my schedule:

Saturday, March 28
**originally, I was to appear on this panel, but my older son's hockey team is now playing their final game around that time
**4:00 PM Creative Block, with Ruth Stuart, Joanne Ellen Hansen, Kent Burles, Gemma Files - Salon 241

Sunday, March 29

12:30 PM Reading ... Come on by, there might be treats! - Crowne Room

1:00 PM Marketing Yourself, with Hayden Trenholm (moderator), Michael Green, Michelle Rowan, Eve Silver, Suzanne Church - Ballroom Centre

2:00 PM Tesseracts Anthologies, with Claude Lalumière (moderator), Madeline Ashby, Douglas Smith, Robert Boyczuk, David Nickle, Suzanne Church - Ballroom Centre

I hope to see you there!

Almost in the mail

2009-03-26T00:46:58Z

I made a few last minute changes to "Cold Feet" and sealed it in an envelope ready to head out to WotF. Tomorrow, I will mail it on the way home from driving my older son to school. I am DAYS ahead of the deadline.

Go me.

edit, edit, edit

2009-03-20T03:14:43Z

Spent some time at Urbana Cafe today, editing. "Cold Feet" is closer to ready and I finally had a chance to work through a good chunk of reddherring1955's crit of "Flight." But now it is late and I am spent.

Did I mention...

2009-03-18T15:12:22Z

I've received a couple of rejections in the last few days: a 38-day pass from Strange Horizons and a 32-day nope from Interzone. Now I have absolutely no stories out at any markets.

Is this intentional? Yes

Will I be changing it soon? Yes (with a WotF entry)

Will I be discussing the why's and the strategies soon? As soon as I can get around to it.

How did that giant pile of work end up on my desk??

2009-03-18T14:34:25Z

Yikes. It's Wednesday already and I haven't accomplished very much of anything yet. Sure, I've done the dishes and washed the bedding and tidied my house. Sure, I've printed the stories I need to read over. I've even met with a few people who I haven't seen in a while to catch up on things.

While I was doing all of those things...no writing of my own has taken place. I must find time to work through reddherring1955's comments on "Flight." I must make time to read through, "Cold Feet" before the WotF deadline. Gosh I hate it the way those deadlines just fly closer by the day!

Someone invent me a time turner!

Writing Time! Hoo-rah!

2009-03-13T19:57:29Z

The cold seemed to have passed enough that my younger son made it to school today. Yay!

So I was finally able to look over the crits of "Cold Feet" and make some changes (especially to the beginning) of the story. I printed it off and will give it to Michael to read tonight. Hopefully, fingers crossed, I can get it out the door to WotF on time this year.

In other news, I gave up almost all desserts for Lent. No, I'm not catholic, but it's a long story. Suffice it to say, today was very hard. I ended up eating a few pieces of a chocolate bar (I refused to give up chocolate) and that helped. Whew!

Blurry

2009-02-24T03:48:56Z

The edges of my brain are blurry today!

My financial paperwork has been stabbed at. I'm not done, not by a long shot, but I'm feeling accomplished.

Writing is still taking a back seat.

It's that time of year again...

2009-02-19T03:44:06Z

Yes, it's time for me to start blogging, and sorta complaining, about financial paperwork. As my first T slip arrived from beyond, I realized I need to get some financial paperwork together for the taxation year. Blah!

I did the first round of sorting, but haven't done much in the way of data entry.

The novel has been ignored for several days. Oops. Tomorrow, I hope to put some novel time in and get some paperwork done. It'll be a multi-tasking day, fingers crossed.

One chapter closer

2009-02-11T03:03:36Z

After another successful editing session at Starbucks, I edited about a chapter and a half of "Flight." The end creeps ever closer.

On the submission front, I sent "Destiny Lives in the Tattoo's Needle" to Interzone. Holy cow, postage to the UK is expensive! That puts my total subs for the year at 3. The shiny counter:

3 / 52 submissions. 6% done!

Go me. :)

Hope -- I'm feeling it AND reading about it

2009-02-06T21:27:04Z

I made time to read my friends' list today.

You can climb back into your seat now, and enough with the roaring laughter. I earned the time. But I digress...

I've been feeling out of touch lately. Mostly wondering if all of this work is getting me somewhere, if I'm going to make something of myself. I began this writing notion in July of 2000, and now, eight and a half years later, I've been in Cicada (among other good mags and anthos) and will soon be in On Spec and Tesseracts 13. And I'm working on the novel, and it's good, and I'm pretty sure I can sell it. Not easily, but with persistence.

So after putting a full day into this job called "writer", I stumbled across what ladnews a.k.a. Sean Williams wrote about his success via pure persistence after being inspired by Jay Lake's post on psychotic persistence. And I felt it: HOPE.

Yes, boys and girls, ladies and gentlemen. I feel hopeful for my future as a writer. It's about f-ing time.

Check out both posts, if you are so inclined (or if you've been feeling blue/uninspired of late).

A special nudge to YOU: reddherring1955. (The two posts speak to some of the things we were IM-ing about last night.)