A: “A noisy noise annoys an oyster.”
So-! It’s been a while. In briefest summary: Still working the day job, still working slush/occasional-book-formatting for Apex, still writing (almost) daily, still trying to read a ton, still trying to quit TV, and still trying to make more time to cook better (re: healthier/vs. eating out) dinners.
Instead of going into copious amounts of mundane detail regarding the past few months, I’ll just jump ahead to the present.
WRITING-WISE: I’m in the beginning of my second Chekhov week of the new system. After pulling out 14 rough drafts from November-January, I realized I was starting to slip into my “easy-mode” of waiting until the last minute to bang out a flash fiction piece under 1k without any serious thought. Since that pretty much defeated the purpose, I revised the system into alternating blocks–two months of Chekhov on top of the regular 500 words a day requirement I’ve set to try to finish a longer-term project, and two months of only 500 words a day (no Chekhov). If all goes well with this one, then I’ll still end up with 30 new drafts to edit by the end of this year’s cycle, plus a finished long project. Hoping this will also give me time to think ahead, refill my idea coffers before each two-month session, and get more useful drafts out of the process.
Also rejoined CRITTERS this month to get back on the editing wagon, so we’ll see how that goes! :0)
READING-WISE: I just finished “The Call of Cthulhu” by H.P. Lovecraft, which has been on my “to read” list for ages, as well as The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami, The Hunger Games by Susanne Collins, and Moral Disorder by Margaret Atwood.
If you’re looking for a short, wonderful, beautifully presented short story, read “On seeing the 100% perfect girl one beautiful April morning” by Haruki Murakami, layout by Stephanie Tai, found here: http://www.blueblanket.net/Steph/Make/Visual/Perfect/ .
LIFE-WISE: Finally got to the only IKEA in the New England area and picked up a pair of Poang chairs for me and Andy’s little reading/studying nook! Hooray! It’s so comfy and stylish now in that barren corner of the office! :D Now to get the rest of the house under control after Block Exam Week/Holidays/Guests. Even a back-to-back viewing of Hoarders didn’t kick us into full-clean gear just yet. EEK!
APEX-WISE: Apex Magazine just got nominated for a Hugo Award for Best Semiprozine! Check it out here! And to think it was ever that thick paper digest I saw on the bookshelves in Barnes & Noble all those years ago and thought, “Hey. I should read more short fiction magazines. This one looks like fun!”
I’ve also been doing a few of the magazine interviews for Apex lately, as well as slushing per usual, so that keeps me plenty busy. :)
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All for now! I’m doing some brainstorming for the blog, so we’ll see what I do with it over the next few months. Stay tuned! :)
Maggie Slater 