this is that missing post!!

GUYS. Today this post magically reappeared in my drafts. Computers are weird, weird things sometimes. Anyway. Here's that blog post I wrote that I was pissed about when it disappeared:

Anybody else think this has been a weird winter so far? The weather has been strangely warm in NYC, except for about two weeks of cold and one snowstorm. Which was a hell of a snowstorm, true. But it's the last day in January and it's 52 degrees out. Something is NOT RIGHT, I tell you!
Anyway. I'm happy to be moving on to February. I did take a few freelance projects for this month, but I'm determined to keep writing regularly. And I might take a week off; I have those rollover vacation days that need to be used up, so why not, right?
I've made some good writing progress so far this year. The most important thing is that I have three pretty regular writing dates now, which is AWESOME. Dedicated work time. I do occasionally use that time for other things (like right now, this blog post!) but it's so nice to have that time set aside every week for not-freelance, not-housework stuff. I'm super close to sending the ghost/witch novel out to beta readers for a last go-round with feedback and further editing. Just a few instances of (ADD XX) or (CHECK THIS) to deal with throughout the manuscript! And I've started to rewrite the entire first section of Emmelina. Everything until the quest begins. It really wasn't working before; Emmelina's character wasn't consistent, the reasoning for the quest wasn't ringing true, etc. I think it's going to be much better with the changes I'm making. And I've done a smidge of writing on Janny. Not a lot, but some is better than none. And I've been spending some time thinking about what scenes I still need to write and how to stitch everything together. Overall, a good writing start to the year!
Let's all think good thoughts for February; it's got to be better than January, right? January set a pretty low bar, after all.
And now, back to the writing.

Back to today. I'm in Philly for a writing day for a couple of friends. It's so nice to not be in the city, to not be distracted by house and work and etc. etc. etc. I'll be finishing a couple projects today, and making progress a couple others. So in an effort to not be distracted from accomplishing things, I'm going to get to it.
Blood and kisses!

seriously?

That moment when you realize your computer ate the whole long blog post you wrote the other day. 
UGH.
This is indicative of how my year feels like it's going, so far. Damnit. I don't even remember what I talked about. Blah blah, writing process, blah blah books I'm reading, blah blah work is intense so far this year. That probably about covers it.
DAMNIT. I'm too frustrated to write a real blog post right now. I'll try again in a few days.

enough already!

When David Bowie passed away earlier this month, I wrote a blog post about it. And then Alan Rickman died. And the I scratched my cornea. And then a coworker passed away. And then I got a nasty winter cold. For each of these things, I thought about writing a blog post, and just never got to it. And now all I can really say is, what the hell, 2016? You're supposed to be better than your predecessor, but that was a pretty shitty start! The rest of this year better be an improvement. The bar is low. You can do it, 2016. SHEESH.
At least I'm feeling good about the writing end of things. I have two weekly online writing dates, plus the critique group, plus all my VP and WtO classmates to talk writing with/swap crits with/etc. Slowly but steadily, I do feel like I'm creating the life I want to be leading.
I've been doing a lot of cooking. Kale pesto, spinach pesto, banana bread, homemade granola, soups, vegetarian enchiladas . . . I'm trying really hard to use all the farm share produce and all the food my roommate brings home from her catering gig. It's been a little intense! But I'm really enjoying spending more time in the kitchen. There's something meditative about it, and it's totally different than anything else I've been doing.
And on that note, it's late, I should go to bed and hope tomorrow is an improvement, healthwise. Blood and kisses, everyone!

a new blog post for a new year

Well, here we are. January, 2016. Last year went by in a blur. I’m not going to dwell on 2015; there were a number of things about it that were not good. But there were some other things that were good. It was a year of transition, and those are always difficult. Now I’m choosing to look forward. The transition year has left me poised to move ahead confidently in the direction of my art, and I’m excited to do so. I don’t really do New Year’s resolutions, but I like to do goals, so here are my (vague) goals for 2016: Take better care of myself. Write more. Freelance less. Give myself more down time. 

How about you? What are your goals or resolutions or dreams for 2016?

I will tell you one highlight of 2015: my partner-in-crime and I adopted a kitten. We still have Zoe, our smart, beautiful, antisocial girl who is now almost nine. And now we have Isabel. She's a delightful terror, and is eight months old. I'll post some photos at some point, I promise.

I read a lot more books than I blogged about in 2015. There’s not time to discuss them all, so here’s a list of some of my favorites from last year that I haven't mentioned previously: Magonia by Maria Dahvana Headley, The Archivist Wasp by Nicole Kornher-Stace, Chimes at Midnight and The Winter Long by Seanan McGuire, Uprooted by Naomi Novik.

I’ll leave you with links to two blog entries that I read the other morning and found inspiring:

https://mariadahvanaheadley.wordpress.com/2015/11/06/taking-writing-risks-new-adult-novel-sold-to-fsg-and-more/

http://pacificrain.blogspot.com/2016/01/2016-new-direction.html

Blood and kisses, and Happy New Year!

a long time coming

Hi everybody! Long time no chat! April is my 2015 reboot. I'm calling a do-over on 2015. The first three months were all work and illness and no play, so we're just going to pretend like they didn't happen and move forward from here. So. Moving along.
What am I doing with my reboot? A LOT, let me tell you! I am settling in to my new apartment. It's different. I like it. I'm not used to roommates. Last weekend I celebrated my lack of freelancing by doing a ton of baking. Everybody loves baked goods!
I'm getting back to my writing. I have three big projects going all at once right now. I'm working on the last round of revisions on the ghost/witch novel. I'm editing the climax of Emmelina and finding beta readers for input. And I'm working on the first draft of Janny and Syska. All of these things will (hopefully) be done in the next month or so.
I'm also getting back into yoga. I'm going to a class in an hour, actually! I just did my first class in probably a year last week. It felt so good. I was sore for three days, but it was worth it!
And I'm getting back to my clarinet. My poor sad girl languished while I worked and packed and apartment hunted, but now that's all over with, so I can spend some time making music again.
I've read a few books this year so far, but not many. Here they are in a nutshell:
1) Death Watch by Ari Berk. I loved this book, all the folklore and little bits of knowledge secreted away in it. I own book two, and can't wait to read it. And will have to pick up book three at some point!
2) Scardown by Elizabeth Bear. I love everything Bear writes. This series is sci-fi, which I'm not as into as I am fantasy, but I tore through this and Worldwired. Her writing is just so good!
3) Worldwired by Elizabeth Bear. See Scardown comments.
4) A Curious Tale of the In-Between by Lauren DeStefano. This is a lovely, dreamy MG book. I won't say anything about the story itself since it's a few months from coming out still, but any MG lovers out there should definitely check this one out!
5) Zeroboxer by Fonda Lee. Admittedly, I'm biased; Fonda was my Viable Paradise roommate. I had such a good time with this book! Sci-fi, in space, sports, love, crazy hijinks! Definitely a keeper for me. :)
And now, I'm off to yoga. And I can't wait!

why do we?

Happy New Year, everybody! This'll be a fairly brief entry, but hey, first Friday of the year and here I am blogging!
I hope you all had a good holiday season. I spent mine in Oregon visiting family and friends. As always, it was great and too short, and I'm happy to be home. I helped my dad move offices, saw a friend who I lost track of when I moved out here a decade ago, got drunk with one of my favorite people in Oregon, spent a day with my best friend, and spent a couple evenings with my oldest goddaughter and her toddler. And on New Year's Eve, my mom and I made a Scandinavian dinner. It was great! I flew home yesterday, and awoke today to . . .
. . . a cold. That's right, the traveling funk got me this time. It's not TERRIBLE, just a runny nose and a scratchy throat and some tiredness. I'm going about my day around it. I just hope it doesn't last long.
My 2014 was a roller coaster. Some great things happened (VP! WtO!) and some terrible things happened (my grandfather passing). Some things were stressful (day job) while some things were fun (the workshops, and the pool league). I think 2014 was better than 2013 was, but I'd like to see 2015 do well for itself. And to that end, I've declared 2015 to be the year of self-care, and the year of piss-off-I'm-writing. On the self-care side of things, I'm going to start exercising again. I went for a long walk today! It's a start! I'm going to continue to be more conscious of my diet. I'm going to delve further into canning/preserving. On the writing side of things . . . Well, that's fairly self-evident, I think. I also want to read more. I didn't read NEARLY enough last year.
Do any of you have resolutions or goals to share for this year? Or thoughts on how the last year has gone?
And now, I'm off to eat homemade chicken soup and get back to my proofreading, because there's writing time this evening if I get enough work done. Happy Friday!

starting anew

So much has happened since the last time I blogged, I'm not sure where to start or what to discuss. Perhaps I'll just nutshell everything, and then I'll move forward with blogging twice a week. Tuesdays and Fridays, that's the plan!
Work has been a little rough. I've had some problematic titles, and things have been quite busy. I've been doing over forty hours a week, not a ton over, but over. Occasional projects at home on the weekend, to try to get caught up. I'm also working on some really amazing books right now (Elizabeth Bear! Fran Wilde! Mary Robinette Kowal! Camille DeAngelis! Courtney Summers! and more!), and can't wait for the world to read them so I can talk to people about them.
I went to the Viable Paradise writing workshop in October. I had intended to do a full blog entry about it, but life got away from me for a while. VP was one of the best experiences of my life. To be in a dedicated creative space with a group of other people who are also serious about their writing was incredible. The input, the information, the focus, the community; all of it blew me away. I wish more of my classmates lived near New York so we could have writing dates and talk craft and etc., but I'm more than happy to have the extended online community. Martha's Vineyard was beautiful, the weather was great, the instructors were all amazing. There was good food, and good whiskey, and beautiful nighttime walks to the beach to see the glowing jellyfish tell their stories in Morse code lighting while the Milky Way spun in the darkness above us. I came back rejuvenated in my desire to write, to tell my stories.
In November, my grandfather passed away. I'm fortunate in that I flew out to Oregon in time to see him just hours before he passed. I stood in his hospital room with my family while he took his last breaths; that was a powerful moment to be present for. I miss him, and I'm sad he's gone, but I'm glad I got to be there. I'm glad I could support my parents and grandmother for a full week before coming back to the city, back to work.
I tried to do NaNoWriMo this November, and got derailed by obvious reasons. I did manage to write 15k of a new project, and it helped me get back into a better writing habit, so it was a completely worthwhile try. Maybe I'll do it again next year, depending on where I'm at with all my writing projects. I'm excited about this new project I'm writing, and once I get through a first draft of it, I'll do a final draft on the ghost/witch book.
I've read several books since the last time I blogged:
18) Ink and Steel by Elizabeth Bear. I think it's clear by now that I love all of Bear's books. This one is no exception.
19) Venom by Fiona Paul. I really enjoyed this one: the language, the setting, the plot. This is fun historical fiction, a little creepy, some romantic. In the end, it's not a keeper because I probably won't reread it, but I had fun with it and would recommend it to anyone who enjoys YA historical fiction.
20) The Desperate Adventures of Zeno and Alya by Jane Kelley. This is a great MG novel about the unlikely friendship between a very sick little girl and an African grey parrot. It's very well done, and it's easy to empathize with both Zeno and Alya.
21) Monument 14 by Emmy Laybourne. Another good YA book. This is the first book in an apocalyptic series where a group of kids get trapped in a big-box store as catastrophe after catastrophe occurs in the outside world. It's fast and gripping and action-oriented without losing a sense of how the kids are doing emotionally. This one's a keeper for me, and I look forward to reading more in this series!
22) For Darkness Shows the Stars by Diana Peterfreund. I've loved her writing since I picked up Rampant, and this is no exception. It's a postapocalyptic rendering of Jane Austen's Persuasion. The language is beautiful, the characters wonderful, the love story sad and aching. Aside from the romance, this book also has some interesting things to say about class and slavery. Highly recommended to anyone who enjoys YA, and definitely a keeper for me.
23) Misfit by Jon Skovron. Another YA, this one about a girl who, on her sixteenth birthday, learns that her mother is a demon, and must learn how to use the powers she inherited from that mother. Her father, meanwhile, has brought her up in a very strict Christian household with no knowledge of the supernatural world. This was a fun read, and I enjoyed seeing Jael grow and change as a character, but this one's not a keeper for me.
24) Green by Jay Lake. Holy wow. Why did I wait so long to read this? Jay's language is lush and his worldbuilding is wonderful. Green is a girl who was taken from her family so young that she does not remember her mother or her native tongue. She is taught to be a courtesan at the Court of the Pomegranate Tree. And that's all I'm going to tell you, because it's better if you go and read it yourself! Part of the reason I enjoyed it so much was because it's not fantasy based on some version of Western Europe at some point in history. Jay Lake has created a world and a cast of characters that is startlingly different, and easy to connect with all at the same time. Definitely one of the best books I read this year. I'll be picking up the sequels soon. Everybody should read this!
25) Krik? Krak! by Edwidge Danticat. Sometimes I avoid reading contemporary classics. I'm not sure why; maybe it's that they're what gets shoved in my face by marketing and promotions and such, they're what's on the front tables at Barnes & Noble, etc. I finally read Krik? Krak! just a few days ago, and now I wish I hadn't waited so long to read this one. It's a series of interconnected short stories about struggle and survival in the Haitian community. It's intense to read about the hardships and loss these characters face, but there is a richness to their lives, their familial bonds, that stands out. The voice of these stories is distinct and engaging. This is a great book, and I'll read more by Danticat in the future!
What a long blog entry this has turned out to be. I'm done now. Happy midweek, everybody, and I'll ramble at you all again soon.