Good morning, my dears. I know the entries have been brief lately, but I've been working really hard, and things have been a little crazy. On the plus side, I've written a few more stories (still haven't finished Metari Nights), one of which, "Goddess Blessing", has been accepted for publication in an anthology, Floating Worlds, which is a collection of Asian fantasy (fantasy in the sf/f sense). I'm not sure when publication is, but once it's out, I'll stick a copy up here somewhere. I'm more than usually excited about this one, 'cause the editor solicited me, needing a specific story ASAP, and I managed to write it over the weekend, and he liked it and bought it, which all made me feel quite the professional. :-)
Other than that, hmmm...what else is going on in my life? Well, the erotica list is still going fairly smoothly, with perhaps a little more chatting than is strictly necessary, but some good material making the rounds nonetheless. On my workshop list, it looks like various exercises in character are going to come together into a story. Hey, would you guys be interested in seeing them? I could post them here, and you could watch the story evolve with me. Might be interesting. On the general writing list, I'm afraid I've gotten into an argument about whether it's necessary/polite to respond to crits with little thank-you's. I find them basically content-free and a waste of time that would better spent critting. Almost everyone else disagrees with me.
In my other electronic life, I've been having way too much fun building a Book Museum on Holomuck. What, you may ask, is a book museum? Well, in my version, each room is dedicated to an author, and is set as a scene of one of their books/worlds. Various objects in the rooms can be touched, which will take you to other rooms in the museum. (For example, if you decide to go watch Reepicheep 'fence' in the Narnia room, you become entranced by the flickering blades, and the next thing you know, you've fallen into the middle of a swordfight with the Three Musketeers in the Dumas room.) Great fun and silliness, and I'm encouraging other people to come and build rooms, so it doesn't become a Museum of Books Mary Anne Reads. :-)
I've also been working on a web page for my boss. This link won't exist for very long, as we're working on finding her a permanent home, but you're welcome to take a look and offer comments.
In my life outside the net (what, there's life outside the net??), I made chicken and potato curry yesterday (what, again? yes, again), got into a fight with my realtor (I even lost my temper, and I never never lose my temper with strangers), the slumlord, took out the trash (it was Wednesday, after all), watched intermitten 90210 while cooking (there was a time, about 5 years ago, when Paul (an ex) and I were addicted to that show. Once a week after work in that awful summer (I had an 1 1/2 hour commute each way -- yick -- really shortened the days) we'd settle down and watch 90210 together. Silly, huh? Oh well. It still reminds me of him.
I also read Amy Tan's The Hundred Secret Senses, which is a delightful and wonderful and inspiring book, and I encourage you all to read it. I loved her first book, enjoyed her second and am very happy with this third one. Took a break from depressing Prozac Nation, also read a little Niven book I enjoyed (forget the name, sorry), despite the fact that you end up disliking the protagonist for most of the book, and am currently rereading The Dispossessed, by Le Guin, which is brilliant. David's reading her The Left Hand of Darkness now, and when he finishes, I think I'll ask to trade. I need to reread that too.
Oof, I should get back to work. (Quiet this morning 'cause two patients cancelled). Have a good day, everyone!