I feel weird

My body feels like a foreign territory. Enemy territory at that. It must be the drugs -- everytime I take the vicodin before bed, I start itching. Not a simple little give-it-a-scratch-and-it-will-go-away type of itch...no, the type that spreads across the entire surface of your body and doesn't stop no matter how much you scratch. And I didn't know it was possible to have both dry mouth and an over-abundance of saliva at the same time.

I'll be very glad when my back is back to normal and I can get off this stuff. It's mind-numbing and body-busting. Even my stomach is rebeling a bit tonight. I think I had too much to eat at dinner.

I sent out my "Bad Girls Rule" query today to Teen People. I did get some really good feedback from Melanie, the other local writer I met online via MediaBistro. I took just about all of it, though I'm sure I've still got errors in there. I don't feel like I can quite get the hang of this querying thing. It was w-a-y easier when assignments just fell in my lap like manna from heaven.

I'd gotten back a "no" from Night Publications on the Bonaire Italian restaurant article I wrote up with a "that editor is no longer with us" note and a "we don't publish this type of thing" comment. Funny, it's exactly the type of thing you ask for in Writer's Market...at any rate, I was trying to be proactive, so I wrote back a "thank you for your prompt response" and "are there any particular articles you're looking for right now" note. I got back a very snippy "read the guidelines" response. Well, I had read the guidelines. All they contained were grammar rules, none of which I had broken. There was nothing in them at all about what type of articles they wanted and the piece I had sent them matched the type of stuff I'd read in the mag when we were on the island. Oh well. I'll look for another home for that piece, though I've got no idea where at the moment. I need to re-send out the wine shop article too, but also no real idea where to send that. I'm definitely going to stick to the query first ideal whenever possible from here on out.

I got Brent Hartinger's permission (excited, at that) to pitch a profile of him. I'm thinking maybe Out magazine, but I want to research a few places first. He's a cool guy and his books are good.

I made a trip to Borders (I know, I know, I need to find a locally owned place to shop, but I haven't yet) to buy teen mags and I, for some reason, couldn't quite bring myself to buy Out at the same time. It was bad enough buying the teen mags and I couldn't imagine the combination of teen fashion rags + a gay magazine. That's horrible of me. Not sure why I couldn't do it. Shoot, I love gay people. I was so excited when we figured out that Louisville is full of 'em. They are great for cities, generally very interesting, and usually into the arts. But that's probably stereotypical generalizations I'm engaging in. Oh well. I probably shouldn't get up and write stuff when I'm half knocked out on medication and it's after midnight. Way past my bedtime.

And in other news...

Ok, might as well cover the "writing news" of my life...though I haven't been doing much because of the vicodin the doctor has me on. Well, much other than sleeping, that is.

But, I did hear back from Family Circle (no) and the Scriptorium (yes). And yesterday I sent out a query to the Courier Journal for an interview I did with Alex Flinn and I'm working today on a query to Teen People for "Bad Girls Rule."

Other than that, I've done interviews with Brent Hartinger and E. Lockhart for my site. And I'm thinking about e-mailing Brent about doing a profile of him for a magazine (provided, of course, I find a magazine to do it for).

I did decide that I probably need to concentrate on my strong point -- i.e. the stuff I've got a "name" in, rather than trying to break more into food & wine type of stuff. I mean, I've been writing about YA stuff for years, so at least I have some history and background there.

Right now I need to take a shower and get out of my pajamas (yes, it is almost 2 PM, but hey, with these meds, I slept until noon) and run down to the bookstore to buy some magazines. Media Bistro had a thing about how to pitch to Teen People, but it was from 2002, so I don't trust that the masthead has stayed the same.

Old notes

I was changing purses to one I hadn't used in over 3 years, based on what was inside, and I found a few slips of mystery paper with some scribbled notes. One looks to be a list of bands that I guess I wanted to buy some songs of:

• Psychedelic Furs
• Pretty in Pink
• Pet Shop Boys
• Van Halen
• Smothers Brothers
• New Order
• Everlast
• Dream Academy
• Big Country
• Europe
• Flock of Seagulls
• ThompsonTwins
• Yaz
• Fiona Apple
• Ever After
• Enya
• Red Hot Chilipeppers
• Nirvana
• XTC
• INXS
• Lenny Kravitz

Not a whole lot in common between those groups, though a fair number are from the 80's. Some of it I do own and some I still don't have.

The other thing must have been a story note...

They were expecting a boy. Athletic, tall, and tan, perhaps with grey-blue eyes, like my father. Someone driven by the fifty-yard line, a grasp like steel, plodding effortlessly through life. Someone without hesitation and fear. "No Fear Here! That's my boy!" Someone...not like me.

Not sure what I was thinking about, but interesting tidbit to keep. I find these things all the time. I've got more story ideas than I know what to do with. Which, I guess, is a better problem to have than the opposite.

Testing Hello

There's this free Hello and Picasa software from Google that I'm trying out. It's supposed to make it easier to publish photos to your blog. It seems to work...my big question is why they want to host photos for free?


Tony all bundled up.

The Internet Blackhole

Tony keeps saying how concerned he is that I not get completely cut off from people while working at home (or coffee shops, for that matter). Generally, it isn't an issue. I kind of like being alone. But lately I feel like I've fallen into some kind of Internet Black Hole where I send things out into the ether and no one responds. I'm not talking about this blog as I don't think anyone is reading it anyway -- how would they even find it. I mean things like e-mail. There was a writer lady I found in town and we were chatting along via e-mail famously for a few days, but then nothing to my last two e-mails. It starts you wondering whether a) did I say something wrong? or b) do I have the equivalent of smelly e-mail? It could be nothing, but who knows.

And part of it, I guess, is that I'm here all day long on the Internet, while most poor schmos only log on every now and again. I probably should try and cultivate that type of attitude myself...

Anyway, I guess I ought to get back to my book. I'm trying to flesh out character descriptions today.

Frustrating, but some progress...

My back is still all messed up. The muscle relaxers from the doctor aren't really doing much either, just taking the edge off. Even sneezing hurts, and I'm doing lots of that. Allergies are such fun...

I'm kind of annoyed at how people at magazines and weeklies are so rude. They just don't respond, even in the amount of time they say they will. I understand people are busy, but geez. It still ticks me off.

Have had some progress on my book though, as far as outlining and planning goes. Got to work on that this afternoon.

Ouch.

I swear I'm not a hypochondriac or anything, but I did something to myself. I can't bend over. I feel like I broke my tailbone. It hurts whenever I move. I have no idea what I did.

The lack of antihistamines isn't helping either. Ugh. I just feel icky.

How'd it get to be Friday so fast?

This week has just flown by. I don't know where the time is going. I heard back from the "Writer's Wanted" posting I'd responded to on Craig's List. They're asking for 400 word samples in a kind of cattle call, but I suppose I'll do it anyway. I'm a little suspicious, but we'll see. One more thing to add to my "to-do" list. And what I'm really dying to be doing is going around to antique stores...

MEME: Where've I been, anyway?

bold the states you've been to, underline the states you've lived in and italicize the state you're in now...

Alabama / Alaska / Arizona / Arkansas / California / Colorado / Connecticut / Delaware / Florida / Georgia / Hawaii / Idaho / Illinois / Indiana / Iowa / Kansas / Kentucky / Louisiana / Maine / Maryland / Massachusetts / Michigan / Minnesota / Mississippi / Missouri / Montana / Nebraska / Nevada / New Hampshire / New Jersey / New Mexico / New York / North Carolina / North Dakota / Ohio / Oklahoma / Oregon / Pennsylvania / Rhode Island / South Carolina / South Dakota / Tennessee / Texas / Utah / Vermont / Virginia / Washington / West Virginia / Wisconsin / Wyoming / Washington D.C /

Go HERE to have a form generate the HTML for you.

I think I'm missing a few states from when I was little and we traveled from art show to art show, but I'm not sure which ones, so I guess they don't really count anyway.

Moving On...

Got a note back from the Italian Visits editor. Liked my writing, but want more regional pieces than specific B&Bs. So I'm going to do a write up for the area and see how that goes. Good news, I suppose.

So much is going on with the house that I don't feel like I'm doing much with the writing stuff. I did have this dream that I need to write up -- a short story just dropped in my lap. Not sure when I'll get to it though. Ugh. I'm just tired today. Maybe it was the big lunch.

Well, then.

I believe I've wasted fully half my day messing around with blog stuff for our joint blog The Pauley's Go to Louisville. I found some of the blogger hacks they post in the help forum and I implemented the one where you can toggle comments on and off (now, if someone would just post some...) and a thing to better manage archives. Maybe I'll do it on this one sometime too, but honestly, I don't think anyone reads it. Not sure if I care if anyone reads it. Anyone reading?

Got a letter back from Tampa Bay Magazine saying "Thanks, but we don't accept freelance work." Well...why do they put an address and say "send submissions here" in their magazine? Geez. So now I have to think of somewhere else to send the wine shop article.

Also got in a ton of books from HarperCollins, so I need to sort through those. If I could just get rid of this sinus headache...winter up north is starting to kill me. I think I'm just not used to whatever allergins (sp?) it is they've got up here. Whatever they are, they are doozies.

We did close on the house, thank goodness. It was a total mess, but now it is done! Yay! Of course, I'm still here in the apartment for now, but we're at least a few steps closer.