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July 23rd, 2008

10:38 pm - One era ends and another begins I sold my old car, for $300 as a trade-in during my new car purchase. I bought a 2007 Toyota Corolla, with under 40,000 kms on it. It's grey, a 5-speed, with a sunroof and tinted windows. I will post pictures once I have them. I'm happy, joyful, and excited to have a new car. :) I'm also saddened and missing the old car. :( And because I hadn't blown quite enough money, I finally replaced my laptop. I bought an HP Pavillion with 3G RAM, a 250G hard drive, and a nice graphics card. It runs under Vista, but to avoid the Vista disaster, I did the following: (a)bought MS Office 2007(home and student) for $99 (what a deal) which allowed me to afford $160 for Outlook so my Blackberry will sync sucessfully (b)paid the guys at Staples to do the initial set-up and backup disks. They also installed Office and Outlook and found my printer drivers. This has saved me an inordinate number of tears (c)found a cable so I can use my old, parallel port printer. Yay! Other news: - most of the weeding is done - ordered 2 cubic yards of soil to landscape some more - we've had far too much rain, but I've still had plenty of swimming time in the pool Current Mood: busy Tags: personal

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July 19th, 2008

10:33 am - It isn't the evil monkey, I swear! I thought this site was fun... Current Location: kids' computer Current Mood: sleepy Tags: personal

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June 30th, 2008

10:06 pm - Right under the wire Between appointments, I managed to work my way through edits of "Regenerating Titan" which now has the new title, "Be Still, Trembling Hand." After picking up my kids at camp, I brought it to the post office (around 5:30) and got the precious June 30th postmark for the Writers of the Future Contest. Woot! Finally, I can update my submissions total. I'm at 24 subs for the year and this is week 27, so I'm behind again. *sigh* But I intend to focus on my novel for the next while, so don't expect the count to shoot up any time soon. The shiny counter: 24 / 52 submissions. 46% done! Current Location: my office Current Mood: accomplished Tags: personal, writing

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June 28th, 2008

09:38 am - Because the world hadn't finished kicking me Yesterday was a disaster. I made a packed lunch, piled the kids in the car, and we headed off to Canada's Wonderland. Sounds good so far, right? ( Read the gory details below the cut ) Current Location: my office Current Mood: exhausted Tags: personal

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June 26th, 2008

11:06 pm - Writing is stepping up I'm now at day 4 for Club 100. I've made a personal decision to focus more on my novel as soon as I get the WotF story out by June 30th. It's summer, too, but I am going to find a way to make it all work. Watch this space for updates on my progress and a chance for me to be accountable to myself. But expect intermittent blogging, as I must re-evaluate where my time is spent. And I haven't read my flist in ages, just FYI. Current Location: in bed Current Mood: exhausted Tags: writing

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June 18th, 2008

02:25 pm - It doesn't suck after all! I spent a couple of hours at the Starbucks in Chapters today. After scoping out my submissions spreadsheet, I decided to read a Clarion story, "Regenerating Titan." It doesn't suck. At least, after a few corrections, it now doesn't suck. And with any luck, and a couple more passes, I will have a submission for Writers of the Future. Woot! I won't be skipping the quarter. I didn't dig out my Clarion crits. I think it better to not go there. After all, I haven't looked at the story in over three years, so I was certainly reading with a fresh eye. And last night, I wrote 212 new words. So I'm at Day 1/100 of Club 100. Tonight, another hundred new words before bed. Gotta find my rhythm again. Current Location: my office Current Mood: accomplished Tags: writing

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June 16th, 2008

05:33 pm - Exhausted I've been busy of late. Here's the short list: Tues - lunch with Aunt and Mom, shopped for a computer, got depressed that XP no longer shipped, overwhelmed by outlandish costs of new laptop combined with upgrading of all my software so stuck head in sand and ignored computer problem for a while longer Wed - lunch with Mom, dinner with Michael to celebrate my birthday Thurs - spent the day in Toronto (walked at Ash Bridges Bay, met Mom to shop, attended niece's high school grad) Fri - saw "Kung Fu Panda", so tired I missed half of it snoozing Sat - accompanied Michael to his friend's wedding, car speedometer went berserk Sun - Fathers' Day BBQ, Jeep drive (finally a nice day) Today - took car in for service (another few hundred bucks, I might have to admit defeat soon and start shopping for another car. That's the third big thing to go wrong in a month), now the kids are home. Yay! I'm exhausted, I still have no idea what to do about my computer, and I haven't had a chance to see if the power failed before or after I taped the last episode of Battlestar Galactica this season. If I didn't get it, expect begging soon. Current Location: my office Current Mood: exhausted Tags: personal

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June 4th, 2008

08:10 pm - Back to the pit you came from I've had it! Vista is incredibly annoying. After much struggling, crying, and many hours on the tech support line, I've told Dell they can have their computer back. I've put everything into its original packaging and now I await the UPS labels to ship it all out of my house. I must commence the hunt for a laptop with XP; one that will work for me for a few years, doesn't cost a mint, and doesn't involve blowing $1,000 on new software. My eyes have been stinging all day. Grrr!!! Current Location: my kids' room Current Mood: cranky Tags: laptop, personal

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May 30th, 2008

11:13 am - There's more to it than meets the eye I've been making multiple trips to the pool store getting my water tested in an attempt to get the chemicals balanced. I did manage one swim yesterday, my first swim of the season. The wind made it brisk, but it was lovely to float and dive and remember what it feels like to be a fish. Today, one more trip to get the water tested, and fingers crossed that I'm close to achieving water nirvana. Current Location: my office Current Mood: tired Tags: personal, pool

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May 26th, 2008

05:35 pm - Because three worked for me last time... I sent another three stories out into the world today. First, "Puddles of Melancholy" is headed to On Spec. Fingers crossed that it makes it by the May 31 deadline. I missed the mail pickup today, so it's going to be tight. "The Needle's Eye" is off to Analog. Finally, I received an eighteen day no grabber from JJA today. In a feat of quick turn-around, "Destiny Lives in the Tattoo's Needle" is back in circulation to Jim Baen's Universe. That puts my total number of submissions at 23 for the year, and this is week 22, so I'm actually ahead for a change. Try not to faint. The shiny counter: 23 / 52 submissions. 44% done! Current Location: my office Current Mood: accomplished Current Music: Puddle of Mudd: Come Clean Tags: writing

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May 23rd, 2008

05:57 pm - Three go out Yep, finally, I put a few stories in the mail. My biggest accomplishment was getting "The Flower Gathering" out the door. It's been languishing on my hard drive for a very long time and I finally got the nerve to send it out into the world for scrutiny, to Asimov's. "Stuffy and the Belfry" is headed for Fantasy Magazine and "A Soul for Christmas" to Doorways. That puts my total number of submissions at 20. This is week 21, so I'm still a bit behind, but I have two more in the hopper and when I next sit down, they'll be out and I'll be back on track. The shiny counter: 20 / 52 (38.5%) On the personal front, I'm taking the kids to see the new Indiana Jones movie in about an hour. And, the pool is now open and filling with water. Soon we will be swimming! Woot! Current Location: my office Current Mood: busy Current Music: Guitar Hero Tags: personal, writing

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May 22nd, 2008

11:55 am - In three weeks it will be MINE! I finally ordered a new laptop. I used the Dell website and chose the XPS M1330, but with a few customized bits for my personal needs. Check out the pretty picture. This purchase has been a long time coming. My old laptop screen is wonky, the touch pad buttons don't work, and I'm down to less than 1Gb of hard disk space so it's slow and broken. The last straw was that yesterday, MS Word crashed over and over again, thwarting my ability to work on any writing without constant fear of losing new words as well as corrupting old ones. Watch this space for the nail-biting updates as my new baby makes its way from Dell to me. Current Location: my office Current Mood: bouncy Current Music: Lenny Kravitz: It Is Time for A Love Revolution Tags: personal, writing

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May 16th, 2008

09:55 am - Finding my feet I've spent the last few days adventuring in the world. It's been a different pacing, and as Bruce Holland Rogers would say, I've been filling up the well. By the time I get back to some butt-in-chair time, I bet I'll have some solid inspiration. Good thing, too, since I've got nothing on the hot-plot-idea-spot yet for the June 30 deadline of WotF. Anyone got an inspirational plot idea-let they'd like to prime me with? Current Mood: contemplative Current Music: Avril's running through my head Tags: personal, writing

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May 8th, 2008

09:20 pm - Three go out I finally put some computer time in this morning. After answering about 30+ emails, I submitted three stories. "Destiny Lives..." went to F&SF, "The Tear Closet" to Clarkesworld, and "Courting Ice" to Sword and Sorceress 23. That puts my total number of subs at 17 and this is week 19 so I must get busy. The shiny counter: 17 / 52 submissions. 33% done! Yesterday, the Writers of the Future people emailed me to let me know that "Destiny Lives..." received an Honorable Mention last quarter. Still stuck in bridesmaid mode on the WotF front. Current Location: in bed Current Mood: busy Tags: writing

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May 5th, 2008

07:18 pm - Update GenreCon was fun again this year. I spoke on four panels in a row from noon til 4pm, so I was pretty beat by the end of the day, but still managed to have a great time at the post-con dinner at "Ups and Downs." Thanks to jeffreyab for inviting me again this year! On the eye recovery front, I saw the doc today. My inflammation is down to a mere 10% of its original stages. So yay! The bad news, however, is that the 0.25 diopter distance issue has not resolved itself with the swelling. So I won't be 20/20 in my left eye. On the plus side, this slight imperfection doesn't affect my ability to drive and it might delay my need for reading glasses. The doc gave me the go-ahead to finally work on my garden, so long as I wear good sunglasses and don't work on a really windy day. Yay! I can finally do the clean up that my neighbours all did three weeks ago! Current Location: my office Current Mood: tired Current Music: Lenny Kravitz: It Is Time for A Love Revolution Tags: conventions, personal

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April 30th, 2008

10:22 am - Eye update For those of you following my eye recovery I visited the eye doc last night. I'm now 50% recovered. Getting there! Current Location: my office Current Mood: busy Current Music: Daughtry Tags: personal

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April 29th, 2008

05:53 pm - This day just keeps getting better I sold a story today. Woot! "Coolies" will appear in On Spec, a Canadian market I've been hoping to crack! Great day, indeed! Current Location: my office Current Mood: excited Current Music: Avril Lavigne: The Best Damn Thing Tags: writing

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01:47 pm - My GenreCon Schedule ( My schedule for GenreCon in Sarnia on Saturday, May 3 ) Current Location: my office Current Mood: busy Tags: conventions, writing

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11:45 am - What a blast!! I had a fantastic time as a guest DJ on 105.3 Kool FM's morning show. Mark Paine and Angie Hill made me feel so welcome and Brian Bourke encouraged us from his poster-boy perch. Here's a shot of me and one of the DJ's, Mark Paine, in the studio. Click through to Flickr for the rest of the photos from the studio And if I can figure it out, I will post an audio clip on my website. Current Location: my office Current Mood: happy Current Music: Kool FM Tags: personal

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04:03 am - T Minus two hours I'll be on the air in two hours. Yay! I've set out my camera and hope to post pictures when I get home. Feel free to have a listen via their website or at 105.3 FM if you're within listening distance. Thanks to all of you who donated money towards my campaign! Current Mood: ecstatic Current Music: Kool FM Tags: personal

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