Inkwell: Authors and Artists

    
E-mail from Jouni:

There's more serious and important discussions going on around here, but I
wanted to say...

one more time, with a feelin'...

About the Babycakes...

Tara, Bill and Maure -- Don't know what to say... except THANK YOU VERY VERY
VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY MUCH. You should've seen my face this morning
when I came to the office and realized that instead of an online chaos in my
picture site, there was four beautiful, simple, functioning mirror sites
(Maure, I think those mirrors can handle the traffic...). You people are the
best. Email me your snail-mail adressess so I'll be able to thank you in
more traditional way in the (hopefully) near future. :-)

And last but certainly not least...

Neil -- Thank you. I owe you. If you want me to send you salmiakki, just let
me know and it's done. If you want me to illustrate your story, just let me
know and it's done. If you want me to kill someone, just let me... errr...
forget the last one, OK? But seriously, If there's some way I can return the
favour, just let me know. :-)

Jouni
  

    
E-mail from Debbie:

Hullo, been lurking here for some time and had to email now.
Maure it was so nice to meet you too, you are so fun (and have the coolest
kitty shoes) and I had to say, please rethink your age cut-off to 8th grade so
you can be Chris' teacher next year, he needs cool teachers like you. Debbie
  

    
Ok, so I have this good news so I just wanted to share with you
lovelies.  I just got cast in a production of Marat/Sade here in the
role of Corday.  *joy*  I actually played this role years ago in
college but I am such a different person now that I really am amazed I
get to do this again and have another shot at it.  And I had the worst
week last week and was really feeling despair about getting work here
in L.A., so I'm very thankful.  

And better yet, yesterday I went down to the ocean and I actually saw
whales dancing not too far from where I stood.  
  

    
VURGH!  Hit "post and go" by mistake.  Wanted to say that I wish I
could have been there this weekend to meet everyone, but I'm sure some
day in the future we will all meet in Valhalla or something.  Sounds
like Maddy claimed the Cuteness throne.  Fun Fun Fun.

-Adriana
  

    
Adriana - You go girl!
Work rules....*



*this may not apply to some people's concept of work
  

    
Adriana--Congratulations!  Woo-hoo!

<<does silly happy dance of joy>>

I love it when folks get cast in things.  I've been too
busy/chicken/fat to audition for years, so I live vicariously through
you!

Dan--yes, Neil played the Reverend in a radio play of Gene Wolfe's
"The Tree is my Hat" Saturday night, which scared the bejeesus out of a
certain 12-year-old of my acquaintance.  He talked about it all the
way home.

Neil wasn't the scariest thing in it, but he was nicely creepy.

And a shout-out to Teri, who lurks here, and is way cool.  <<waves
like madwoman>>

<<Waves at Debbers>>  Woo-hoo!  You posted!  You rock!

For someone who doesn't read horror, I sure did have a faboo time
Saturday.  It must have been the company ;-)

Oh, and uh, shirts and stuff--yes, yes, a thousand times yes!  Cafe
Press does all sorts of things besides shirts, for those of us who
already own too many t-shirts.

OK, pooped, and wondering where my friend Jeff-the-opera-singer has
buggered off to (Houseguest of the Week)

G'night, John-Boy!
  

    
Adriana, I've never seen or read Marat/Sade, but ever since 10th grade when
my lovely feminist history teacher (who proudly announced that her
grandmother had chained herself outside 10 Downing Street to protest for
womens' rights in England) taught the history of the French Revolution I had
this strange desire to be Corday.  (Marge Piercy wrote a neat French-
Revolution era novel from the perspective of a bunch of women characters
that was pretty cool, too. I've forgotten its name. Bad me.) I'm just a
sucker for French Revolution stuff, I think...  but anyway, congrats on the
role, I'm sure it'll be great fun!
  

    
Mary - In that case I'll let you know that I just got cast as Julian
in The Unexpected Guest (Agatha Christie)... 
(far be it from me to deny more vicarious living... *grin*)

on a totally unrelated note, I was browsing through my short story
collections looking for things to read at this Story Night I'm doing
tomorrow, and thought, "Hrm.. there's that story 'Green is the Color'
at the beginning of 'Masterpieces of Fantasy and Wonder'... I've always
liked that story." So I grab the volume, and open it up and see that
the story was written by someone named John M. Ford.

Sneaky bugger, that Ford... popping up where you least expect him to.
  

    

Next thing you know he'll be popping up in some random online forum or
something!
  

    
Greetings, all.  'Member me?  So, after four months of being home,
job-searching, and writing, I've finally managed to get fully into
substitute teaching *and* land a job as a personal trainer at a Bally
fitness club.  Which means that my first order of business is
reinstating my Well account (woo!  I'm happy).
So thing's've been good; it's been strange being home again, and not
at all helped by knowing I'll be 24 next month (and still haven't yet
sold a book [or story, for that matter]), but I'm adjusting, and now
that I have the jobs, perhaps I shan't be home much longer.  Here's
hoping.

So, I'm not going to try to catch up on the four months of posts I
missed (well.  Right now, at least.  I'll be reading them over the next
week or so, prolly), but, a couple of things, the first of which is a
congratulations to Adriana, for getting the part in *Marat/Sade*; I
just read the play a few weeks ago for the first time (it was a
recommendation from a girl I'm rather fond of, and not something I
could dismiss easily).  Very good play, and I'm sure you'll do very
well with it.

Jouni: Great adaptation of "Babycakes".  Simply loved it.

And now, a question, to Neil, Mike, and Martha (and anyone else who
might know this kind of situation); I submitted a story to the New
Yorker about three months ago, hoping to get into the summer debut
fiction issue.  I've not heard back from them yet about the story. 
Problem is, there's an anthology coming out shortly that I really think
the story would be accepted into, and I'm pretty sure the New Yorker
is against the simultaneous submissions thing).  Is it a major faux pas
if I submit it to the small anthology (I've never been published
before, and a bunch of people have told me I've no chance of getting
into the New Yorker, but, well, I haven't been rejected yet, so [the
anthology is *really* small, but, I figure at least it's a publishing
credit])?  What do you guys think (you can e-mail me, if you want)?

God, it's great to be back here.  I've missed all of you.
  

    
Well-come back, Will!  You have certainly been missed, and it was good
to read your update.  Good luck with the submissions!
  

    
You really can't submit a story that's at the New Yorker to somebody else.
Your odds of getting into the New Yorker are of course small, but the time a
story is on hold is part of the equation of submissions.

Some of my first stories took years to get through this process and find a
market.  The best thing to do, of course, is write a new story and send it
somewhere else so you don't have all that stress riding on that one
manuscript.

Easily said--
  

    
Will and all Well-wishers, my thanks go out to you.  I'm sure you know
how good it feels to be doing what you're Supposed to be doing with
your life.

Dan, you are my stage hero.  Congratulations!  I hope you keep your
Einstein hair.  I really loved that picture.
  

    
Will -- I dunno. I figure if you've heard nothing in three months, you
might as well shrug and go elsewhere. But then, I've only submitted
one story anywhere really in the last decade (I sent SNOW GLASS APPLES
to Alice Turner at Playboy in 1996 -- never heard anything back, so
shrugged and self-published it).
  

    
Three months, alas, is only when you can start to expect you might have a
chance of hearing back from most markets.
  

    
(well, gave it to DreamHaven to publish as a CBLDF benefit actually.
But you know what I mean.)

Martha - really? Gosh. When I wrote that Other People story I e-mailed
it first to Ellen Datlow and then to Gordon Van Gelder, and once Ellen
said it wasn't SF so she couldn't use it, Gordon e-mailled back to say
that it would fit nicely into his Anniversary issue. I suppose I
thought things moved faster these days. But then, any stories I write
are usually spoken for by people who are starting to sweat and wonder
if they really will come in, which is, I suppose, an enviable position
to be in.
  

    
Neil--you're Neil Gaiman.  Stories that go through the slush pile are
different.

And even most writers with a long track record, award nominations for the
magazines in question, etc., can wait months to hear.  (I'm not talking
about me here, I'm talking about what I hear from frustrated friends whose
books you may have blurbed in the past and all.)
  

    
Yay!  Will!  You're back!  It's so good to "see" you again!

<<does happy dance of joy for second time in 2 days>>

Dan--you rock!  Congratulations!

<<starts happy dance of joy for third time in two days, runs out of
breath, and says, "Oh, bugger it!">>

And Dan, I, too, loved the Einstein pic.  

Martha--welcome back!  I missed you!

And Squeaks--I'm sorry about your friend & glad that she's better now.
 Those drugs really scare me--they're so easy to use, and I can't
believe how many utterly scummy, creepy people there are out there who
would use them.  Apparently the clubs here are pretty bad as well.  

The older I get, the more of a misanthrope I become.

Warning: a gathering of Unusual Suspects is suspected in the Chicago
area....theatre-goers beware!

Mary (who might actually finish Soldier of Arete today, and will then
start The Sandman Book of Dreams)
  

    
Will - Welcome back!

Adriana - I probably won't be keeping the hair... the roots are
already starting to show (although it just looks like grey under white
at this point so it's ok), and I don't think it's appropriate for a
mid-thirties, Liberal british politician, secret lover of the leading
lady, murder suspect in a foggy townhouse in England.

Then again... maybe I'm wrong...

Neil - yes... you are in an enviable position. ... at least from a
submission standpoint. *grin*

Dan (who thinks of Neil every time someone comments on how busy he is,
and laughs a little.. knowing he can't compete with the Master of
Busy.)
  

    
     Will -- according to the New Yorker's masthead, they don't take
unsolicited mss. from anybody, period.  (This probably doesn't apply to
agented stuff, but one can't be sure; it was a signifiant coup for
Virginia Kidd to get an Ursula LeGuin story there, when -we- all
thought LeGuin could go anywhere she darn well pleased.)  I don't know
about the Summer Debut Fiction issue, but my semi-educated guess is
that those people were in various workshops or student programs, and
made connections there with the kind of people who have the magazine's
attention.
     Understand, I try to explain to people who are convinced that one
-only- gets into print through Knowing People that this is untrue,
that one gets published by writing something worth publishing, but that
is a general truth, not necessarily applicable to a particular
publication.
  

    
okay, not entirely broke, but after only a half-day of work (for which
I am only paid a half day's wages) I decided to celebrate <woo hoo!
I'm off early!> by spending more than what I made today on clothing I
don't need - but it is black, and some of it rather fluffy, so what the
heck. :)

<abbess> There's nothing wrong with liking French Revolutionary stuff.
Les Mis wouldn't be anything without the French Revolution. (It's the
Spanish Inquisition one has to be careful about)

Dan - Tomorrow huh? Well, would you look at what I forgot to put in my
Palm Pilot... erg... hrm. Oh, wait. It seems I scheduled it for MAY,
rather than April. DUMB! Well, let me see what I can rearrange (kicking
self for not noticing the date at the top of the screen something she
had planned ages ago).

Will - good to see you back. And good luck with the writing (where
ever it ends up published).

Adriana - I'd wish you luck, but luck has nothing to do with it. I'm
sure you'll do fab, and have a wonderful time while doing it! Have FUN
and break a leg.

Mary - One can never truly tire of a happy dance. ;) Tiring of
housework, however...

squeaks, who has LOTS of housework she really needs to get back to 
now.
  

    
Um, not that it has anything to do with anything, but I've only just
discovered that the flavour of your favourite brand of cream soda is
very much enhanced when your room reeks of freshly blossomed jasmine.

squeaks, who will get back to cleaning, sorting and filing any minute
now
  

    
Delurking mostly to say (because where else can it really be said?):

I am no longer a Tim Tam virgin.  I am replete with
chocolatey-biscuity delirium, utterly and indelibly corrupted.

And it's all Tree's fault, really. (via Linz)

Adriana: WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!  I *know* you're gonna
send me the information for the show, so your best Wellie fan can be
there!

Tree:  Can I come next week?  

And I am absolutely for any Wellie tee shirt that can legally be worn
in public.

Love to everybody.  Miss you madly.
  

    
Jouni,  absolutely no need to thank me, I didn't do anything! Bill and
Tara had the mirrors up and running before you'd even received my
email, because they are fast and smart. 

Debbie, no way, jose! As much fun as it would be to teach someone who
springs up indignantly when a critic says Terry Pratchett has a
"fumbling wit," I think I rather like 3rd - 5th graders. They start
catching my jokes and mostly understanding them, but they, as a whole,
still know for a fact that they are the center of the Universe. Junior
high kids start worrying about popularity, and the center shifts to the
cool kids. The cool kids in junior high never get my jokes, and I
would be heartbroken. Plus, most of 'em are taller than I am.

Adriana,  that's fantastic!! When does the show run? And Maddy did get
a crown . . .

Pamela,  stop learning new tricks for the car and post more. You're
missed.
  

    
Woah, Will! Hello! I wondered where you went...
 Martha's right, I think. Though if I were you I'd send it out.
Probably not good advice, but I'm still waiting for my rejection letter
from The New Yorker a year and a half after I sent the story. 
My rule is if I don't hear back from a magazine in four months, I
query them. if they don't answer somewhat promptly, I send it
elsewhere. I figure that if there are complications, then it's their
fault for being slow and unorganized. Seems fair to me. But query the
New Yorker first, just in case. And good luck!
  There are times when I get rejection slips *too* fast. The two times
I've sent stories to The Magazine of Science Fiction and Fantasy, I
get a polite form letter five days after I mail it out! You'd think
that would be impossible. My guess is that they look at my name or the
word count and throw it aside immediately, without even reading the
first page. I hate being an un-published writer. 
But anyway....

According to the Which of The Endless are You? quiz, I am Dream. But I
think I'm a little bit of everyone, as everyone should be. 

Jouni- I love the comic! Thanks for sharing:)

Re Horrorcon- Sounds like everyone had a fabulous time. I wish I could
have been there. (It seems like I say that every month. It's getting
redundant. One of these days I'm gonna have to up and go to one of
these cons.)

Danw-The pic of you as Einstein made me fall out of my chair.(in a
good way) Wow. 

re silly goth witchhunt- I'm so sick of the black/dark=depressed
attitude. I'm only a part-time goth, but I wear black simply because I
like black. I look good in it. (*everyone* looks good in black...you
just can't go wrong) I listen to "goth" music because it *means*
something or--at least, is more entertaining than the watered
down-redundant-boring-empty-cheesy-plasticy mainstream alternative. And
things that mean something or entertain me make me happy. Besides,
there's a lot of non-serious fun goth music out there (has anyone heard
Leatherstrip's 'Sex Dwarf'?) I could go on and on talking about how
goths are usually the most straight-edge and well behaved at concerts
and clubs, (Peter Murphy had by far the most well-behaved audience I've
ever been a part of..and he's coming here again May 8th! [does happy
Peter Murphy dance]) but everyone here has already said it better..and
I'm preaching to the choir anyway, so I'll stop. 

Neil-Hi:)  (I had something else to say, but i've forgotten. Figured
I'd acknowledge you anyway)

Adriana- congratulations!

Squeaks- Hi:) (see my post to Neil)

Ack, I'm too high on Red Bull to continue. Brain. Too. Spastic.
(that's okay, I'm giving up All Drugs That Are Fun And Expensive next
month, so I may as well try and enjoy them now.) This post is getting
to long anyway. Time to get out my summer clothes. 

(Spellcheck says that ALL of my words are misspelled. I sincerely hope
that's not true)

dammit. Lots of people slipped and I'm out of time...but-- Hi Pamela!
I missed you too. And, yes, I too would buy a Wellie tee shirt.