In which I feel as though I haven't done thing…

My weekend whispered away, it seems. The days melting into each other with the TV chattering in the background — a large part of that chatter involving a full day marathon of all the Star Wars movies at my sister’s house.

And yet, somehow my laundry is done and my bed is made and my life doesn’t seem to have dissolved into chaos, so I guess I’ve been productive, too.

What I’m Reading

I have a great love for cowgirl stories (even though I don’t read them often), so Under the Painted Sky by Stacey Lee is perfect for me. I’m loving this so far, with two strong girls (one of Chinese decent accused of murder and one a runaway slave) running out into the empty wild west, dressed as boys.

Still working on Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra. It’s slow reading, but fun. Sometimes I guffaw outloud at the antics of these characters.

What I’m Writing

Putting together a collection is a strange process, something I don’t have much experience with and, in the past, it has not felt natural to group my poetry together. Since this present collection is made up primarily of letter-poems, they all at least fit around a single concept. Over the past week, I’ve read through all of the poems, made selections of those to include and performed edits (substantial in some cases) to each, as well as spreading them out across my living room floor to decide on an order.

I’m feeling good about where I’m at with chapbook — better than any previous time I’ve tried to put a collection together. At the moment, I’m trying to just let things sit for a bit in order to be sure of a few final edits to a couple of the poems, then I think I’ll be ready to send it out. (Eeeeee!)

Goal(s) for this week: Submit chapbook. Gather together poem drafts I’ve written from internet and the universe and organize them in my computer.

What’s Inspiring Me Right Now

Reading poetry this month, because beautiful words get me thinking about words and then wanting to write them, too.

Linky Goodness

E. Jade Lomax imagined what the Harry Potter stories would have been like, if Petunia Dursley had opened her home and heart to Harry instead of rejecting him and the result is so beautiful, it made me cry.

Nights of Words and Discourse

Meant to post this on Monday, but I got sick this week, which knocked me flat for several days. Since I’m starting to feel better, I’m posting it now.

* * * 

Last Thursday night I attended the fantastic Cito.FAME.Us Women’s History Month open mic, which featured the amazing folk duo Q&A and yours truly. I’ve been a fan of Q&A ever since I first heard them and so it was a great honor to have been paired with them for my first feature performance. I made a video of one of their new songs and hopefully I’ll be able to upload and share it soon.

Q&A includes Quynh and Alice

  

I also attended the Her Story to Call Her Own open mic, which was a wonderful grounding experience, full of many beautiful women singing or speaking many beautiful words.

What I’m Reading

I just finished Midwinterblood, by Marcus Sedgwick, which was beautiful and not at all what I expected. 

 
Blue by George Elliott Clarke, which is a powerful collection of poetry. 

 Still enjoying my slow read of Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra.

What I’m Writing

I made it halfway through a chapbook submission, which I’m starting to feel fairly solid about. I’ve got some more work to do on it, some cleaning up of some of the poems and than I should be able to send it out.

Goal(s) for this week: Finish and submit chapbook.

What’s Inspiring Me Right Now

Amazing women and artists who live in this South Bay community and who open up their voices to share.

Linky Goodness

I think I’ll just leave you with From Tank Girl to Mad Max: The 10 Most Stylish Apocalypse Movies.

It's a new week and I need some sleep…

After some additional challenges with installation, the printer saga is at an end not fixed after all. *sigh*

 I’m also still tired after FOGconm, in a good way.

What I’m Reading

Ancillary Justice by Ann Lecky, which is due back at the library today. I’m only a few chapters in, though, so fines be damned. The storyline and worldbuilding are fascinating and I love the use of “she” as the primary pronoun for everyone.

What I’m Writing

Nada last week, because of prepping for FOGcon and other life things to do, like honoring the day of birth of the most, wonderful, beautiful, and wise lady who brought me into this world. I love her, I do. 


Goal(s) for this week: Write a chapter of the novel in poems. Submit something.

What’s Inspiring Me Right Now

I’m not feeling very inspired at the moment, but I will be once I get my room smooshed back into a state of order, allowing me to breathe again.

Where I’ll Be

March 26: I’ll be a featured performer at Cito.FAME.us. I’ll share the link, when I have more info. 

 I’m planning to also attend this Thursday’s Cito.FAME.us open mic, which is also the two and a half year anniversary of the event.

Linky Goodness

Theodora Goss wrote on teaching writing and what’s she’s learned as a teacher in response to this post. Her thoughts are awesome and I 100% agree.

The Printer Saga

The installation of my new printer has become a sort of saga, marked with bouts of passive procrastination. It all began nigh a month ago, when I realized I needed to buy an electrical strip in order to plug in the printer, TV, and Xbox simultaneously.

Thus, I journeyed forth to Office Max and purchased the required electrical strip — only to discover that the electrical outlet is a two-prong outlet and will not accept my three-pronged plug of my strip. *le sigh*

Verily, I adventured into Home Depot and discovered an adapter that would allow me to use my three-pronged electrical strip in my two-pronged outlet. After a struggle to shove the three-pronged plug into the adapter, which resulted in a war wound in the form of a bruise on my thumb, the printer worked!

And one would think my story would be done, but no!

During set up, I came to realize the printer did not come equipped with a USB cable, as the wireless setting was standard… I do not have wireless… Hey, don’t look at me like that.

Thus and verily, I hath ventured into the wilds once more and have obtained a USB cable of my very own.

I will learn tonight whether this saga is finally at an end.

What I’m Reading

Six-Gun Snow White by  Catherynne M. Valente, which like most of her writing is lush and complex. I love how she keeps the fairtale tone, while mixing in the old penny western tone. Neato.

What I’m Writing

Let’s just pretend I was productive this week. Agreed? Agreed.

Goal(s) for this week: Enjoy my time at FogCon. If I manage to get something written, then awesome. If not, well I have an excuse.

What’s Inspiring Me Right Now

Honestly, I don’t know. For some reason, I’m finding it a challenge to list something here each and every week, as I tend to find inspiration in random insignificant things of everyday life and can never remember them when I need to write these posts.

Where I’ll Be

March 6-9: Floating around FogCon, talking about books and writing and generally having a good time.

March 26: I’ll be a featured performer at Cito.FAME.us. I’ll share the link, when I have more info.

Linky Goodness

Heather Web writes on The Science of Creating Authentic Characters.

For Joy!

It’s been a lovely week all around, with plenty of time hanging out with family and friends, talking and being silly and ridiculous.

I attended the Cito.FAME.us Love is in the Air open mic and Valentines Day party, which was amazing. I love these artists and seeing what they can do and how they open up and grow.

I’ve taken some more organizational steps, switching over my 2014 files to 2015 and getting stuff laid out to do my taxes. While taking a look at my files, I noticed that what really needs organizational work is my creative files — my poetry, fiction, notes, etc. I need to figure out to have each poem and story right where I want it when I need to put together a submission packet. I also need to keep more accurate record of drafts, making it clear the most recent versions in both print and on my computer. I would love to hear suggestions in this regard.

What I’m Reading

Almost finished with The Forever War by Joe Haldeman. I’m not normally into military stories, but this is compulsively compelling and a fast read with really interesting ideas.

Next up will be Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson. I previously read Robinson’s 2312, which was good but was highly focused on the technical aspects of each world visited and I didn’t quite connect with it. I’m guessing that Red Mars will be similar, but since it will be focused on a single world instead of many, I’m hoping I’ll enjoy it more. It’s also research, as Robinson will be a guest speaker at FogCon 2015, which I will be attending in March.

What I’m Writing

Chapter/poem two of the novel is poems has been completed! Progress has been far slower than I’d like it to be, in part because I need to re-prioritize my time. But still, progress, huzzah!

I completed one other poem last week, a Valentines Day poem, which I read at the fantastically fun Love is in the Air party last week.

Accepted! Nonbinary Review has accepted my poem “Eve and Pandora” for their upcoming issue #4, focused on Bulfinch’s Mythology. Eeeeeee!

Goal(s) for this week: Get my printer set up. Finish chapter three. Put a submission packet together.

What’s Inspiring Me Right Now

I’m having a hard time naming something specific this week. I feel a general sense of momentum, of engagement, partly because I’m working to submit work on a regular basis and partly because I’m actively connecting with artist and writer community in person and online.

My main feeling at this moment is to not let hesitation or fear herd me into poor use of time. It’s all well and good to watch TV/movies and play video games, but it needs to come after making myself and my creative work a priority.

Linky Goodness

My friend, Laura Ayer, pointed out Bullet Journal, which is a method using the traditional paper and pen method to plan and manage one’s monthly tasks (I recommend watching the introductory video). I love the idea of this, but don’t know if it’s for me. I’m kind of all over the place when it comes to paper, though having a clear method would like this could be a good solution.

If any one has done the Bullet Journal method or something similar, I would love to hear about your experience.