Queer · and · Loathing · in · America

I am ensconced in Casa Mysterioso, having worked from an ungodly hour this morning until recently, and now have to somehow find the strength to go to the Melanoma Center and the gym, train Jean, then come back here and write for the rest of the night before collapsing into bed (with the assistance of Tylenol PM tonight, you can bet your ass on that one) to try to get some rest before getting up tomorrow and heading for the gym and the Melanoma Center before my signing. I also am leaving for Atlanta via automobile (whee! Let's see how close I can get to the limit on my Shell card! Yay!) on Thursday next week. And it all just makes me feel ever so much more tired.

I have, since the last time I stayed at CM, bought my own copies of the non-fiction comfort reads I always indulge myself in whilst here (they are now my Lost Apartment comfort reads, along with Huey Long) and as such, I needed to find a new one for this visit here. So, I browsed Uncle Lee's bookshelves last evening and discovered, to my GREAT joy, The History of Western Philosophy by Bertrand Russell, and I am loving it--so much so, in fact, that I am considering sneaking it out of here when I vacate on Tuesday. It is awesome, and I have pretty much decided that, on my list of goals for 2009, the study of Western philosophy is going to be one of my top goals.

This month is also slipping ever so gradually through my fingers, and this disturbs me as I am getting none of the things done that I intended to get done this month. I feel rather lazy and moronish. (Although I did recently get an email from the editor I submitted my story "Tell Me a Lie" to, and she liked it, she really really liked it) But I do feel as though the young adult book proposal I am working on may actually be worth something to the Big Publisher who was interested in it, and I am hoping to get it put in the mail before I leave for Atlanta next week. Then, whilst in Atlanta, I plan on finishing up whatever is left to do on Rough Trade as well as Wanna Wrestle?, which will then free me to spend the rest of the month outlining Murder in the Garden District and Blood on the Moon. (By the way, I get a very nice review in the Times-Picayune this week for Murder in the Rue Ursulines, which is always nice.)

And that's that for this entry. I promise to be better. I am bringing the camera to the signing, so hopefully there will be some fun pictures for me to post on Sunday before I go to work. (ugh.)

Current Location:	Casa Mysterioso
Current Mood:	tired
Current Music:	Big Girls Don't Cry by Fergie

Oy.

It's not that I am burned out about the election. At this point, my thoughts and opinions are pretty clear, aren't going to change, and thinking about the election only makes my blood pressure soar. So, I am going to try to limit myself to only one post about it per week. This, after all, isn't the op-ed page of the New York Times.

Over this past week, I've been doing a lot of juggling with my writing. I am trying to finish two more proposals (one is non-fiction and memoiresque, eep) and putting the finishing touches on an anthology and a short story collection re-publication (which is only about a year overdue, ouch) while still trying to make it to the gym and the Melanoma Center to prepare for Gay Halloween and putting in forty hours a week for NO/AIDS as well as cleaning the house and so forth, and getting ready for the booksigning on Saturday. (I am not reading, by the way.) I am also trying to finalize a signing in Houston, and deciding whether or not Southern California is an option, as well as the Eastern seaboard, which I haven't done in years since that Unnamed Bookstore fucked me over so royally on the Refugee Author Tour (Strike Three!). But it would be nice to do something at Giovanni's Room (if for no other reason than to support Ed Hermance, the owner) and something in Boston--which I haven't done since Greg's First Book Tour.

Ah, money.

I am departing for a weekend at Casa Mysterioso later on today. I hope to get a lot done while I am there as I usually do.

Current Location:	my desk
Current Mood:	contemplative
Current Music:	Say You'll Be Mine by Christopher Cross

Jeremiah Wright? Really? I have a question for you, Madam Governor: does the Reverend Wright believe in witchcraft? Does the Reverend Wright's church espouse the doctrine that Illinois is where everyone will come during the Final Days? Does the Reverend Wright's church espouse the notion that you can 'pray away the gay'?

And while I can certainly understand the 'outrage' good white Christian people in this country felt when some of Reverend Wright's sermons were made public earlier this year during the primaries, the very fact that they are willing to give Sarah Palin's minister and church a pass on FAR MORE SUBVERSIVE AND EVIL BELIEFS tells me only one thing: that outrage was based in racism. Period.

Pundits and analysts are always very quick to claim that racism in this country is a complex issue. It's not. It's very simple. Racism exists in this country because some people prefer to have a scapegoat to blame all of the ills of this society on, because it certainly can't be any of OUR fault, right? And whether those scapegoats are black, Muslims, or illegal aliens really doesn't matter--all that matters is they can't be white. And frankly, hatred of an entire group of people primarily based on soundbites from people who choose to exploit that hatred is ignorance in its purist form.

As I watched the news last night and coverage of this monster's lack of originality in baring her fangs and going after Senator Obama, ignoring what really matters to a minimum of 59% of American voters, I shook my head in disgust at Georgia Wallace's attempt to salvage the trainwreck that is the McCain/Palin ticket. Paul said, "You know, I'd have a little more respect for her if she would just come right out and say, you can't vote for the n*gg*r."

By fanning the flames of racial tension, this monstrosity of a woman is showing the entire world how frightfully wrong she is for any elected office in this country.

Her church thinks all Jews should be converted; considering her deep and impassioned long-held love for Israel (from her comments at the debate last Thursday) one can only assume her long-range goal for that nation is a conversion to Christianity. Good luck with that, Madam.

While going on the offensive about the incredibly tenuous 'friendship' of Senator Obama with Bill Ayers, she also opens up questions about the First Dude's membership in the Alaska Independence Party, a secessionist group whose founder hates the United States. She herself taped an address to this party's convention. (Oh, and for all of you moronic right-wingers who have no grasp of history or the language, 'secession' is what the Southern slave-holding states did which resulted in the Civil War; talk about treason! So, Madam Governess, when you talk about 'country first'--do you mean the United States or a sovereign Alaska?)

Senator McCain's own brother referred to the heavily populated northern counties of Virginia as 'communist country.' Any surprise he is now down 12 points in Virginia? And again, as I cruise the internet and read comments on news stories and blogs from those ultra-America-first right-wingers, they are very very quick to throw out the Communist accusation.

That's right, Communist.

In the right wing brain, such as it is, there are no greater insults than 'liberal' and 'Communist'--and in that pea-shaped smaller-than-a-brontosaurus' organ, the words are interchangeable.

These same idiots manage to get outraged when they are compared to Fascists or Nazis, but how is that different from calling liberal Democrats Communists? It isn't, and when you throw out words like that--be prepared to defend yourself with something more than outrage when someone on the left (in particular, ME) calls you a Fascist, because that is what you are.

And while you are at it, you can drop the cloak of Christianity. You aren't a Christian, Madam Governess. To God, the ends do not justify the means; that is a man-made concept and does not appear in the Bible anywhere. By uttering these baseless lies and smears about anyone who disagrees with you, who questions you, who DARES ask a question about you, you aren't making yourself right with the God you claim to be so devoted to.

I doubt you will convince anyone with your carefully scripted lies, insults and smears. You might win cheers at rallies of people who wouldn't vote for the black man under any circumstance, but you aren't convincing the swing voters.

You, Madam Governess, long to turn the clock back to a day when the blacks knew their place, gays and lesbians hid in closets, and women had no choices or control over their lives.

That's not change. That's not reform. That isn't forward thinking.

Here's a challenge from a liberal faggot in Louisiana: Say something, anything, of substance that you can actually defend without resorting to name-calling.

Madam Governess, your entire campaign is based on nothing more than "Oh yeah? Says you."

May God have mercy on your soul.

And as for you, Senator McCain who said yesterday, I don't need lessons in how to tell the truth to the American people. And if I did, I wouldn't turn to a Chicago politician.

Okay, Mr. Senator. Tell me the truth. Why did you leave your first wife who waited for you all those years you were in the Hanoi Hilton, while she was recovering from a terrible accident, for another woman?

Why did you vote 90% of the time with George W. Bush?

Why did you support deregulating our financial industry and Wall Street, since your OWN involvement and support of deregulating the S&L industry in the 80's led to a similar meltdown and bail out? What exactly IS your economic plan?

Why are you supporting cutting Medicare?

As a proud supporter of the military, why do you always vote against veterans' benefits?

I didn't think it possible, but I hold the McCain/Palin ticket in almost as much disdain as I do the Bush/Cheney team, if not more. Bush and Cheney never hid who they really were after the 2000 election.

Oh, and Senator McCain? I want to thank you for choosing Governor Palin as your running mate. Thank you for showing this country and the entire world what the living embodiment of the far right extreme of Republican thought looks like in all of its ugliness, hatred and evil.

And when the American voter wakes up and sees through all of these desperate shenanigans you are resorting to win an election, I pray that this will be the last time this fight for the soul of a great country takes place.

Current Location:	my desk
Current Mood:	angry
Current Music:	Black Magic Woman by Santana

While over the last few years or so, Mr. King has finally started getting the recognition he has long deserved as a brilliant writer of quality fiction, watching this movie made me realize something else about his work that begs comment. While his work is frequently classified as horror, and indeed, horrible things happen in his work with regularity, he doesn't really write about horror; he writes about fear, and how ordinary everyday people react to fear, stress, and things that have rocked their sense of what is reality. Some people react with courage and become heroes; others revert to cowardice and superstition. King has an almost frightening understanding, not only of human psychology, but of group psychology.

When you read Stephen King's work, even those that make the 'wrong' choices when confronted with a situation far outside their comfort zone are drawn three-dimensionally. That is part of his genius, and what makes the horror even greater; you can understand why people make these 'wrong' choices. And while, as you read his work, you like to think you would rise like cream and become heroic and do the right thing, deep down you suspect and fear that you would indeed retreat into cowardice and the comfort of superstition and it's rituals, that you want someone to tell you what to do instead of making your own choices and decisions. The question I kept thinking about, and what I decided was the theme of this story, was how far will you go against your principles and sense of what is right in order to feel safe and protected?

As I watched this movie last night, with its group of normal every day people trapped by the mist in a grocery store, it occurred to me that this could be deconstructed quite easily into a metaphor for this country after 9/11, when everyone was shaken and scared, and how the government used this fear to manipulate and control the populace for six years thereafter.

This was probably one of the greatest con jobs in the history of our country. Under the guise of public safety, laws were passed that subverted our Constitution. And while they convinced a frightened public that this was in our best interests, they also continued to gut legislation already in place to protect the public from the greed of major corporations. President Bush is very quick to say that history will be the judge of his legacy; I seriously doubt that history (and objective non-partisan historians) will be kind to him. Our economy is wrecked, world opinion of our government is probably lower than it has ever been, and the crimes committed by this administration and its henchmen are far greater than even Nixon would have dared to commit.

Yesterday, Governor Palin called Senator Obama a 'terrorist.' It was only a matter of time before this allegation was made by either her or Senator McCain. I really do not have to explain how evil this is, do I?

Republicans are always very quick to talk about 'character.' This was their objection, after all, to President Clinton: what kind of a person would cheat constantly on his wife and lie about it? Do we really want this kind of person running the country?

So, one has to ask this question: what does the kind of campaign McCain/Palin are running say about THEIR character?

They mouth empty bromides about their 'maverick' mentality and 'cleaning up Washington.' They slander Senators Biden and Obama at every opportunity. They tell easily exposed lies, and continue to tell them after they are exposed. They launch vicious personal attacks about the integrity of their opponents while refusing to cooperate in investigations into their own 'integrity'--claiming the investigations are somehow 'partisan' and therefore invalid. (If you want a truly odious --and accurate--comparison, it's no different than the O.J. Simpson racist-conspiracy-to-frame-him defense.) It is a cheap and disgusting trick that shows a complete lack of respect for her own state government. Yet, somehow we are supposed to believe that this facade of a politician will respect and protect our Constitution.

Now, contrast this to the character shown by the Obama/Biden campaigns. All criticisms of their opponents are based on facts easily proven. They question the claims of 'maverick,' by exposing Senator McCain's voting record in the Senate. Senator Obama publicly stated that the children and families of candidates were off limits.

So, rather than being grateful that Senator Obama refused to allow his party and his campaign to make hay of Governor Palin's unwed pregnant daughter, which stands in stark contrast to her own beliefs about morality and abstinence-only education, she pays him back by calling him a terrorist. Instead of painting Cindy McCain as the drug addicted embezzling Botox Barbie that she really is, she has been left alone by the Obama/Biden ticket and treated with respect--and that says a lot about the character of the Obama/Biden campaign.

Imagine, for just a moment, if in her past Michelle Obama had a drug problem and stole from a non-profit she worked for to pay for her drugs. Imagine, for just a moment, if Senator Biden had a teenaged daughter who was pregnant and unmarried. Would a campaign who called Senator Obama a terrorist not slander Michelle Obama or Senator Biden's daughter at every opportunity? What would Headrush Limbaugh and St. Ann the Virgin Coulter (she who only refers to Senator Obama as 'B. Hussein Obama') have to say on the subject?

Yes, that's character one can be proud of.

As for her statement that she will 'tolerate' queer Americans, how big of her. I can see why the Log Cabin Republicans have rallied to the McCain/Palin banner. Toleration! Whee! Bring out the disco ball and let's dance! This is a major victory!

I cannot speak for any other queer American, nor will I pretend to. But the question that needs to be asked of the Wicked Witch of the North is this: what exactly do you mean by 'tolerate?'

And one thing everyone needs to bear in mind before you cast your vote for this Republican abomination of a ticket--regardless of how this presidential race turns out, the Democrats are going to increase their majorities in Congress. Given the contempt McCain/Palin have shown in this race to the opposing party, how exactly are they going to govern?

I used to like John McCain, even if I didn't agree with him. That liking and respect is gone forever. I cannot approve of a man who tells bald-faced lies to the American public, and does not back down from the lie when it is proven to be a lie. I cannot like or respect a man whose desire to be President is so overpowering that he is willing to sell-out every principle and shred of integrity in his character to be elected.

If your positions are so bad that they can only be talked about in vague terms, and the only way you can run a campaign is to smear your opponents with lie after lie because your own positions are untenable, you not only do not deserve to serve this country in the White House but you need to resign your seat in the Senate.

Go gently into that dark night, Senator McCain, and take the Abominable Snowwoman with you, if you truly love this country.

Current Location:	my desk
Current Mood:	angry
Current Music:	Goodbye to You by Scandal

And I am so looking forward to watching Tina Fey's debate performance on Saturday Night Live tonight.

And a week from today is the signing at Garden Distict that officially launches the Last Minute Author Tour (LMAT). It's from 1-3. As I am only doing this one, one in Atlanta in two weeks, and Houston in late January, I would highly recommend you ordered a signed copy of Murder in the Rue Ursulines from Garden District Books. You can call them to order at 504.895.2266; fax it in to 504.895.0111, or shoot them an email at gdkrewe@aol.com. (And make sure to say hello to the Fabulous Deb, the Awesome Amy, or the Terrific Ted when you do!)

Although I am still hoping to make it to Southern California for LMAT, I don't know if I am going to be able to pull it off. But one never knows.

The plan for today is to come home from the office and work on some stuff while I watch college football. I need to check today's schedule to see what games are on. And I am off tomorrow, which is cool. I am going to try to get some more writing done then. Next Thursday I am moving into Casa Mysterioso for a few days as well. Woo-hoo!

I also need to do some serious picking up around this dust bowl. Sheesh. New Orleans has to be one of the dustiest places on the planet. And maybe I can get to the windows tomorrow. That would help tremendously, I think, in making this place seem more clean. (It's hard for a place to look clean when the sun is shining through windows covered in dirt and dust.)

We also now have a lot of movies on hand to watch from Netflix--The Mist, The Brave One, Metrosexuality, The Quiet American--and when we are finished with those we are trying out the television series Jericho.

Just full of excitement today, ain't I? Bore, bore, bore.

Current Location:	my desk
Current Mood:	sleepy
Current Music:	I Never Knew by Gloria Gaynor

And yes, I full recognize and acknowledge that could be construed as a sexist remark. So be it.

Frankly, I was relieved she didn't come across as the unfocused, slightly demented and out of touch boob that appeared with Katie Couric. Much as I oppose the McCain/Palin ticket, I did not relish the idea of watching her make a fool out of herself in front of the entire world. That would have been painful to watch.

But she didn't say anything. She didn't express how a McCain presidency would be different from the last seven years. She didn't say anything other than talking points that avoided specifics. If the debate had been a drinking game, the word would have been 'maverick,' and everyone would have been shit-faced drunk at 9:30 CST. (Actually, that point would have been reached around 8:20.) She didn't answer the majority of the questions. She said absolutely nothing of substance. And her view that the vice president should have more legislative power? Absolutely chilling given the seven years of Darth Cheney we have all endured. Thank you, Senator Biden, for pointing out that the duties of the vice-president are spelled out in the Constitution--which she clearly hasn't read. And that is also indicative of what her philosophy would be should she ever have to move into the Oval Office; a continuation of the Bush administration's Imperial, and unaccountable to anyone, presidency.

As for style, I will give her credit for that. She played the character of Sarah Palin beautifully (although I still prefer Tina Fey's interpretation; I smell another Emmy for Ms. Fey), down to those folksy, aw-shucks down-home moments (Joe Sixpack, hockey mom, etc--she said everything just about but 'gosh darn it') --which triggered my Hee-Haw honey remark (to which Paul remarked, "I keep waiting for the fence board to hit her in the ass")--that I found, frankly, disturbing as they didn't seem real but part of the act. It didn't ring true to me. And before I am accused of liberal elitism, bear in mind that I am from a rural family and background. My family is the Alabama version of the Palins. I spent five years in rural Kansas. I know small town people. I know the lower middle class. And I know pandering when I see it. I also find the reference to a segment of our population as "Joe Sixpack" deeply offensive and condescending no matter WHO it comes from. First of all, the vast majority of the rural folk I grew up and around didn't drink beer, or anything alcoholic, for that matter.

It's almost as though she is trying to become the living embodiment of that Gretchen Wilson song "Redneck Woman." And I'm sorry, we've already done the good ole boy thing for the last seven years--which hasn't gotten us very far.

I am also sick to death of that 'they hate us for our freedoms' bullshit. They don't. They hate us for our imperialism, and to suggest otherwise shows a clear lack of vision and understanding of foreign policy; the exact same mentality that has gotten us into this horrible mess we are in now.

I'm also sick to death of the Republican whining about the mainstream media. Newsflash: you've been whining about it for over thirty years now. If you truly believe that, then give up your whining and accept it for a reality and deal with it. You're running for public office, and dealing with the media and whatever biases it may have is part of the parcel. You don't want to deal with it? Don't run for office. Period.

I'm also sick to death of the Republicans whining about partisanship. Who helped create the partisan bullshit in Washington? From 2001-2007, the Republicans had a monopoly on the White House and Congress, and we saw just how willing they were to reach across the aisle and come up with bipartisan solutions to the problems we all face. Nope, the Democrats are partisan monsters unwilling to work with Republicans who, now that they are in the minority in Congress, are whining "Can't we all just get along?" The Democratic majority has been willing to work with the Republicans far more so than the converse in the previous six years--with the end result that Congress has the lowest approval ratings in remembered history.

The Republican unwillingness to work across the aisle is exactly why they became a Congressional minority.

The essence of American politics has always been bipartisanship and compromise. All one has to do is read histories of the convention that created and ratified our Constitution to understand what the founding fathers had in mind.

The inability, or unwillingness, to work together to come up with solutions resulted in some of the greatest disasters in our history. The Civil War, anyone?

Last night's debate did nothing to ease any worries I might have had about the McCain/Palin ticket winning. Instead, it rather emphasized the urgent need for them to lose. It will be more of the same. The same failed policies on everything. The same 'we don't have to listen to the majority of the population because we're right and you're wrong' mentality.

I will give Governor Palin a great deal of credit. Her three month audition for a talk show on Fox got a great deal better.

And one last comment I made while listening to one of her answers: "This sounds like a beauty pageant speech."

That's me, sexist to the last.

Current Location:	my desk
Current Mood:	contemplative
Current Music:	Say You Will by Fleetwood Mac

I have big plans for today, Constant Reader. Let's hope I can stay focused and en pointe so that I can get it all done. Whee! Wouldn't that be nice? There are some things I need to write, and then I am going to revise a Secret Project before tossing it into the mail. I am also determined to get this stupid c.v. I've been slaving away at for months finished. I also need to do some touch-up cleaning on the house. (I don't know if I am going to get to these thoroughly disgusting windows, but pray to God I will at least this weekend.) There's also a Big Game this weekend in the SEC--but I can't remember who it is between. LSU has a bye this weekend, so it ain't them. Auburn? Georgia? Florida? Alabama? Looks like I'll be going to the SEC website later, but I think it is Auburn-Florida. Big game for both, as they have each already lost once in the conference (Auburn to LSU--GEAUX TIGERS--and Florida to Ole Miss) and Florida, at least, still has to play LSU. (Both still have to play Georgia as well.)

I slept relatively well, even though I woke up a couple of times. I didn't get home until almost one last night, which sucked as it always does, and I was worn out and very tired. At least on Friday it's an early evening shift, and I am working at the CAN office for four hours during the day on Saturday.

Yesterday I saw that Senator McCain gave an interview to The Washington Blade, and all over the Internet the Log Cabin Republicans were shooting loads into their pants over it. To be fair, I will say that this IS progress of a sort for the Grotesque Old Party; imagine the anti-President ever giving an interview to a queer media outlet--but the rapturous and almost orgasmic tone of the queer right wing bloggers all over the place about this was stomach-turning, to say the least. Just because McCain has some gay friends and agreed to talk to the Blade doesn't mean he deserves a single vote from any queer. He is against hate crimes legislation and is against gay marriage. So, Senator McCain can be as cordial as he wants to the queer media and it's not going to make ME vote for him. And la Palindrome told Katie Couric she believes being queer is a choice, and we all know how she feels about CHOICE.

And even if McCain was for queers enjoying all of the rights and privileges granted to us by the US Constitution, I still wouldn't vote for him. He is wrong about the economy, he is wrong about the war, he is pretty much wrong about everything. And no, Logs, that doesn't mean I am a Democrat before I am a queer; it means I am an American first. Just because I don't cheer for my oppressors and wave a sign that says COUNTRY FIRST at rallies for a presidential ticket that wants to continue to oppress me, women and every other minority in this country; that wants to take our tax dollars and bail out Wall Street because their mindless greed and stupidity wrecked the WORLD economy; that wants to stay in Iraq for at least a hundred years fighting a war we should have never been involved in and cannot afford; that wants to continue to give tax breaks to people who don't need them while not relieving the burden on the middle class; and lies every time they open their mouths does not make me a Democrat first. You can sneer at me all you like--because frankly the opinions of people who vote for their wallets at the expense of the rest of the country don't matter to me in the least. You can say I am a Democrat before I am gay all you want--because the truth is you care more about your money than you do the rest of the country.

That, to me, is unpatriotic. When you put your wallet before your country, don't fucking stick a yellow ribbon magnet on your SUV and wave your flag in MY face.

But I will say this about Senator McCain's interview with the Blade: that's the most 'maverick' move he has made since 2004. It certainly isn't going to play well with the Religious Right, and it did show some balls. So, Senator McCain, I commend you. I am still not voting for you, but I admire you for doing this.

And maybe it will signal a sea-change in the Republican party in regards to queer rights.

After all, California now permits gay marriage and look! Heterosexual marriage didn't crumble.

I have to work late tonight, and I am already sleepy. I should see if I can take a little nap, but whenever I do that I am always afraid I won't wake up in time. Heavy sigh. At least tomorrow is a day off.

As I said, I am trying to use the month of October to get all my little odds and ends finished up and done so I can focus fully on Chanse V once November 1 rolls around. I am also very pleased with myself for getting this story done--trust me, the last thing I've been wanting to do these past few days is write and revise, but I put my nose on the grindstone and got it done. Sometimes you just have to make yourself do it, you know?

Alas, I have to miss Project Runway tonight, but hopefully I can catch it tomorrow before the VP debate. I am wondering if I should bother to watch it; the last few weeks even the sight of John McCain and his skanky lying ass on television (even when he is being mocked or his lies being pointed out) makes me so angry I have to leave the room. And while I mostly feel sorry for la Palindrome these days, she is still capable of making me angry. At least their poll numbers are dropping faster than the Dow these days.

Excuse me, Senator McCain. It might be a good idea to stop blaming Senator Obama for everything and start acting Presidential if you want to salvage the disaster that is your campaign. I know this might come as a surprise to you, but nobody likes the idea of a hot-tempered cranky old man having the launch codes to an arsenal of nuclear weapons. And I doubt very seriously that the rest of the world is comfortable with the idea either.

And by the way, someone (sorry, I am too lazy to look up the link) has now proven what I've been saying all along--that Sarah Palin can't see Alaska from her home, her hometown, or Alaska's capital. Apparently, there is no lie that woman won't tell.

Maybe it was the witches! Maybe they've possessed her!

Fucking freak.

Current Location:	my desk
Current Mood:	bitchy
Current Music:	Dark Lady by Cher

I slept deeply and well last night, which was nice. I have to work really late tonight, so being wide awake this early is a bit of a concern. Ah, well. I think I might clean the windows today. They are filthy.

Paul returned night before last from a weekend at the Tennessee Williams Theater Festival in Provincetown, and I am wearing the incredibly comfy Ptown sweatshirt he bought me. There's a load of clothes in the washer, I am still on my first cup of coffee, and the day stretches endlessly before me. I do have a lot of things I want to get done today (have tomorrow off, yay) and once I am functional, I have to work on a short story that was due yesterday but the editor graciously gave me an extension to today since I had to work all day yesterday. There's actually a lot that I want to get done before the end of this month; at the end of this month I have to start seriously working on Chanse V. That gives me this entire month to wrap up all those annoying little odds and ends that have been hanging over me for quite some time. It's always good to have a plan, don't you think? Anyway, I am hopeful that this will work out for me. If I stick to the plan, I should be free and clear of everything by Halloween and can completely focus on writing the Chanse book and not have to deal with the complete and total madness of trying to write a book in ten weeks like I did this past spring.

NEVER again.

Jean Redmann and I also made a deal the other night; if I can land an agent by the end of the year she will buy me dinner at our favorite Snug Harbor. YAY. If a Snug Harbor burger and baked potato with fried 'shrooms as the appetizer won't motivate me into trying to get an agent, I don't know what will, you know.

I also need to send out an email about my signings at Garden District Books and the one at Outwrite the next weekend--although the Outwrite signing has me more than a little nervous. I have heard of gasoline shortages throughout the south; last night on CNN I saw a story about gasoline retailing for over $8 a gallon in Atlanta. WHY is this not more of a major story? Is the media not covering this story to forestall a nation-wide panic, I wonder? It's definitely possible. Any word out there on this situation, Constant Reader?

Sigh.

Definitely must get caught up on everything over the next two days, methinks.

Must also brave the grocery store and make it to the storage place today; I've had two boxes in the trunk of the new-to-me car for several days now. It also bugs me that I haven't named the car yet; I always name my cars. But something hasn't popped into my mind or occurred to me as of yet, so....

Current Location:	my desk
Current Mood:	contemplative
Current Music:	The Music's No Good Without You by Cher

The Cardinal

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I have been watching the implosion of the McCain campaign with a lot of interest. When I got home from work yesterday and signed on-line to see the headline Bailout Bill Killed by the House, I also have to say I had a bit of respect for the 60% of Republican congressmen who held true to their party principles and voted against the party leadership. Wow, I thought to myself, some of them still believe in not having big government.

And then I discovered that apparently the reason they decided to vote against the bill was to "punish" Speaker Nancy Pelosi who made a speech pointing out that this entire financial disaster was the direct result of the failed policies of the President and a Republican dominated Congress; they decided to pout and punish the country to teach her a lesson.

Yes, this is the party of "country first."

I, frankly, oppose this bailout bill as it was written; it was just a bad bill. The vast majority of my fellow citizens agree with me. I fail to see why we need to bail out the sons of bitches who, through their greed and frankly stupid business policies, have wrecked our economy and created this disaster. So, a bail out is necessary to save our economy? Then this is what I think needs to be included in this bill:

1. Regulatory oversight with teeth. You violate the rules, you go to jail. Period.

2. Limits on executive salaries, bonuses and no golden parachutes. Period.

3. Heavy taxes on profits until this bail out is paid back.

4. A revision of personal bankruptcy laws that will help people in financial trouble instead of throwing them under the bus.

5. A rewrite of these 'bad' mortgages to help people keep their homes.

6. A maximum level of credit interest (no more of this 'preapproved credit regardless of whether you have a job, have bad credit history, or have defaulted on other credit recently for a low APR of 22% or higher'), and retroactive fines for credit companies who have issued such predatory credit.

7. National health care. The majority of people who default on their mortgages do so because of outrageous medical bills they cannot pay.

8. Complete and total regulation of the insurance industry. If an insurance company delays payment on a claim, or rejects one for absolutely no good reason other than they don't want to pay it, they get fined. Period.

9. If a corporation decides to send jobs overseas, they get taxed. Heavily. And if they try to pass that tax cost on to consumers, a HUGE fine.

10. A limit on how much money we continue to spend in Iraq.

I am not an economist, but all it takes is the ability to balance a checkbook to figure out that we, as a nation, cannot afford to keep spending money we don't have. Americans who spend money they don't have and then can't pay back are screwed; yet our government operates on the very same principle.

Current Location:	my desk
Current Mood:	angry
Current Music:	Freeway of Love by Aretha Franklin

Somehow, I managed to get everything done this weekend that I intended to earlier this afternoon, and now I am at a complete loss on how to waste the rest of the day. And please don't suggest write some more, because I've done that. The entire apartment is clean, chicken cacciatore is cooking in the crockpot, and it is still early evening. There's absolutely nothing to watch on television, so I am going to curl up with a book and see if I can finish the Nancy Pickard. I have also decided to switch books for the next to read; I am going to read Relic by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child, which I've had for years and have never read.

So, while at Audubon Park this afternoon, I took some non-walk related photos...( here be pictures )

I finished writing the first chapter necessary for a book proposal this morning before I left the house, there was the recent good news re: the anthology I already posted about, I sold an essay to an anthology I really wanted to be a part of, and the planning for the next Chanse is going very well. It's also always a boost to get a boxload of your new book. It's very cool.

A writer at the start of his career recently asked me about the 'feeling' you get from getting published, and if the more you published did the feeling become lesser? I answered with a resounding 'no'. It's still a thrill and a wonder to me every time I sell a story or an essay, or someone pays me money to write a book or edit an anthology. That incredible feeling of surprise and pride and satisfaction and joy never, ever goes away. At least for me, and I've done my fair share of publishing, I guess. In fact, I hope I never get to the point where that feeling does lessen, or go away completely.

I love to write. I love to write dialogue and create characters and settings and mood and telling a story that someone might connect with or identify with or enjoy or make them laugh or make them cry. I love the power of the written word; how putting words together and constructing sentences and paragraphs can also create images and emotions and arguments and make points and can say so much.

It always amazes me still that people want to not only publish my words but also want to read them.

I've been very lucky with my career, and frankly, I've done everything the wrong way. Yet despite my blunders and my faulty memory and lack of any real expertise when it comes to marketing, I manage to sell quite a bit of my work.

I've somehow managed to write ten novels in the last nine years, a novella, and quite a few essays and short stories. I write in the blog fairly regularly.

I think it's pretty obvious that I love to write. I sure do it a lot. And every story, every novel, every essay--everything I write is a challenge in a different way; a new one. I desperately try not to tell the same story over and over again unless I can think of a new and inventive way (at least to me) to tell it. I try to make all of my characters as different from each other as I possibly can; although I do use the same characters over and over again. I put Venus and Blaine in all of my mysteries--both the Scotty and Chanse series--and as I sat in my easy chair last night rereading Murder in the Rue Ursulines for the first time as a truly finished work, I smiled because I'd crossed another character over from the Scotty series to the Chanse series.

It's all set in New Orleans, after all, and we are all one degree of separation way from the rest of the city.

Tomorrow I am going to get up and work some more. Paul is out of town this weekend, and I am going to work my ass off this weekend...and it feels good to be working again.

Life is good.

Current Location:	my desk
Current Mood:	happy
Current Music:	Friday I'm In Love by the Cure

Bold Strokes Books has picked up my dead-in-the-water Todd Gregory anthology Rough Trade, to be released in their Fall '09 catalogue.

They are ON TOP of things. I've already gotten the cover design:

Kinda hot, don't you think?

Current Location:	my desk
Current Mood:	bouncy
Current Music:	You Spin Me Round Like A Record by Dead or Alive

We do not support government bailouts of private institutions. Government interference in the markets exacerbates problems in the marketplace and causes the free market to take longer to correct itself. We believe in the free market as the best tool to sustained prosperity and opportunity for all.

Uh huh, yeah, right.

Hey Republicans--check out my icon.

Current Location:	my desk
Current Mood:	angry
Current Music:	All Fired Up by Pat Benatar