Truly. Deeply. Madly

So. I've finally got Guardian Angels down to roughly 8600 words. I think, as far as drafts go, it's as clean as I'm going to get it. Aside from the one beta who got a look at it before Arisia, it's unbetaed as of yet, but I'm hoping the League of Extraordinary Betae will be able to shake loose a little time for me. I've been focusing so hard on tightening and streamlining the prose, I'm sure I've missed some rather important gramar details in there. In particular, there's a capitalization issue I know I wavered on more than twice, but I'm so inured to the story by this point, I know for sure I'll never see it. Jenna_thorn will though. She's amazing like that. Hence her League membership.

Anyway. I've also downloaded a podcast recording program, and am learning the ropes of it while I wait for insurance things to get underway. Hopefully my Dragon, Naturally Speaking mic will be good enough for me to record the story once the LEB are done with it, since I promised the six people who actually made it to my reading that I'd make the part they didn't get to hear available when I got home. Makes me wish firestarter333 was still here, so I could borrow his mic for it... and cause he's fun to have around too, of course. Then again, the guest room is broken down for book storage just now, so it's prolly better he's where he is, since he'd be sleeping on the floor if he was here.

I went through the Mandala House Amazon list and assigned a triage ranking list. The numbers in the 'notes' field refer to how badly damaged the book is. Everything with a 5 or higher is in the freezer, 1's are damp, but not much, and 9's are toast. And the books we care most about are ranked higher in the 'priority' field -- because really, the bed and breakfast books from ten years ago? Not so useful, actually.

Oh, latest news from Allstate: We've been handed over to the "Calamity" division. Part of me's kinda proud of this designation, but that part's inveterately silly, and the rest is trying to shove it into a box and sit on it. The rest of me is worried by this development. Calamity sounds awfully close to "Act of God" for my liking...

Okay. Silver lining time: My red wool rug looks better than it has in years, and the cleaning service only cost us $65, which the insurance should handle just fine, considering replacement cost. It's on the floor in my office now, and it makes the whole room just a bit warmer, which is really lovely. Also? I've got a fecking salable story done! First time in years I've something to sell that I'm proud of, even if it IS an awkward size. Also, once The Perfect Title for the Red Riding Pastiche appears, I know that one's going to take off as well. (Oh, don't look at me like that, I'm not hanging back waiting for it or anything. It's just that some stories really need The Perfect Title, and this is one of them. It doesn't have its voice yet, and the title will somehow help it to settle. No, don't ask me how or why, that's just how it works, is all.)

So there. Things ain't all that bad, considering.

Oh, and another amusing element of Arisia that sort of fell under the wheels of 'Zomgmylibrarynoooo'
( (Look away, fellas; icky girly stuff here...) )

Other things that were great about Arisia;

The stage makeup panel went amazingly well. There was only one other panelist, and our information dovetailed nicely, since he was coming from the stage distance and lighting angle, and I was coming from the street distance and lighting angle. There's a lot of territory the two cover, but the principles are the same, and it was fun meshing them together.

I pulled out the guitar in my room and played a bit, which I hadn't done for a LONG time. The local style of filking -- open chaos, that is, -- is stressful to me, since I don't feel right shoving my way into the mix. It always feels horribly rude to me, so I spared myself the anxiety, and just played for myself and Domius. And y'know what? It was great. For as long as my fingers lasted, anyhow.

The poetry reading on Sunday was great. There were only three of us, and for awhile, it looked like we were going to outnumber the audience, but we shared some great stuff. People in the audience brought stuff to read, and Cat Valente read from her anthology, A Guide to Folktales in Fragile Dialects, of which I seem to have scored the only copy at the convention. (Go me!)

I've talked about my reading, and about the Sexual Politics panel already... so ... Ah! The misanthropes and goth panels! Those were fun too, even though they were scheduled up against the Steampunk Ball, which I'd wanted to attend. From what Dominus says, the ball was so crowded it would probably have been less fun than I'd expected anyhow. I did wind up feeling a little like Granny Goth at the last one, but managed not to whack anyone in the knee with my walker all the same. The panelists for that one were just great, and it was neat to explore some of the cultural and anthropological underpinnings to the Goth movement and it's permutations in the decades since it rose to prominence. And too, that was where I met the fascinating ktpinto, so even better for me! (Because when the Zombies rise up, it's always good to know a bunch of Vampire Writers. They last much longer, I'm told.)

Oh, amusing moment for those who know my fannish inclinations; I was giving my cred-via-intro on the Misanthropes: why we love them panel, and I mentioned that one of the reasons I was on the panel was because I wrote HP fandom, and had been told in feedback comments that I wrote a particularly good Snape. One poor gentleman in the front row piped up with, "Just as long as you're not one of those who writes Snape/Harry!" You can imagine the tonal inflection there; you'll probably be fairly square on.

Oooh, the replies that ran through my brain... I actually had to just stop and smile at him for a long moment while the zingers fought for dominance, and the other panelists laughed, supposing he'd just given me an idea. I finally decided that making an actual reply to that would probably derail the panel completely, so I just handwaved a little bit, and entertained myself with imagining his face if he were to suddenly find himself reading Pink Slip... Or better yet, that Dobby/Lucius non-con I did on a dare that one drabble night... He'd either go all head splodey, or crawl out of his skin in the heebyjeebies. *Ebil snicker!*

So see? I technically DON'T qualify as a misanthrope. I just play one on LJ, is all.
And now my paint's dry, so it's time to mix another colour, and get started on the robes.
Cheers!
C

Bam.

To'djaso. Little Red Riding Pastiche stepped up and made good with her title tonight; Flist, meet Kin to Wolves and Witches.
Now that she has a name, I expect she'll get some good legs on, and we'll be underway properly.

In other news, the weather front that's heading our way tomorrow is making me feel achy and awful in every joint I've got, and I would dearly love a hot bath to try and shake the ache, but until an architect has taken a look at the bathroom, and signed off on the leaky floor's stability, I am not ABOUT to fill up that massive iron tub with half a ton of water + me! So I'm going to make do with Tiger Balm and Tylenol, and my trusty heating pad instead of tempting fate.

Godric finally had a come to Bastet moment with the snakes today. He's always been a bit too food-chain-aware where they're concerned, and it's usually a bit of a trial keeping him from swatting at Dahn of Anya whenever they're out of their cage and he can sneak within range. Tonight, we had Anya in the feed box on the floor -- usually the box is up on a stool, so he can't just sit and watch when she strikes for the rat. Tonight, he saw just how fast she is, and it definitely made him reconsider the snakes' designation as potential prey species. He was decidedly respectful of her space (though still quite fascinated, of course,) for the rest of the evening, until I put her back into the cage with her Other. Dahn, on the other hand, was a pill, and despite having given us Hungry Face for the better part of a week, decided that no, she didn't trust the look of that rat, thanks all the same. We'll try her again this weekend, I suppose. At least that's one less rat in the freezer, crowding the books.

Okay, looking back over that final sentence, you'd think I was still Down The Rabbit Hole or something, but no. Rats are normally in my freezer though; it's just the books that are the new addition.

Oh, Allstate news; Due to the number of ice storm related claims in our area, and despite our particular disaster not being related to said ice storm, our claim has in fact been rolled over to the Calamity Devision. At which, it seems, no actual humans work within reach of a phone of any kind, seeing as how not even agents within the company can get anything but a computer on the line. Nobody will say why, when, how, or even whence, and so the Mandala House library remains in limbo. On the good side -- and this actually IS a good side, -- this foot-dragging means that I'll have even more time to get things in gear for covering the deductible. This is good, because I want to give the contributing artists as much time as I can. I haven't done up the proposal letter yet, though I should have done (mea culpa, no excuses, I just suck, is all,) but it will go out this week. *Pinky swears,*

And that's enough disaster talk for now.
Back to reveling in the glow of a good title for me! One must take what joy one can in these leaden days of winter, after all...