Getting back to normal....

It's a cold day in Salt Lake, alternating rain and snow. It would have been a great day to call in sick at work and just nap all day, but responsibility won out, and I ended up being pretty productive. I have a great mountain of Shimmer stuff to catch up on, as well - I got way behind when Sean was out here. We had a great time together, mostly just hanging out, but also took time to make pizza for friends, and go to another friend's housewarming party. It was really great, and I'm really looking forward to him moving out here.

After work tonight, I headed off to a yoga class. A year ago, I was in really great shape and yoga came easily to me. For one reason or another - travel, changes in the studio schedule, etc - my practice faded away, and now every class that I do make it to is really challenging. It's hard, remembering how strong I used to be, to have to do so many modifications to asanas. But the great thing about yoga is how it works at any level. Even when I'm taking it really easy, I can just focus on breathing and moving and at the end of class, I'm stronger and more stable.

Tonight we spent a lot of time in Ardha Chandrasana, which is really good at developing both strength and stability. And it's one of the asanas I can do reasonably well, so it was fun.

And now, for dinner: grilled chicken with spicy peanut sauce, and edamame. Yum.

The Importance of Contact Info....

The other day, I received a submission via mail (despite only accepting submissions via e-mail, we do occasionally get a paper submission).

The submission did not include a SASE for my reply. It also did not have any contact information on the cover letter or the story itself. The envelope does have a return address, but got some heaving black marks on it during the mailing process, and I can't read it.

So if you're the nice young man in Everett, WA, who recently mailed me a story, I'm afraid I'm not going to be able to respond to your submission. Next time, please submit via e-mail; at least that way I can reply.

Most publications have useful information about how they'd like stories submitted: e-mail or in paper? What kind of formatting? Are multiple or simultaneous submissions allowed? Make it easier for both yourself and the editors by understanding the mechanics of submitting stories.

Any questions? Leave 'em in the comments and I'll do my best to answer.

And even more productivity!

I seem to have a great deal of energy these days, and I'm getting lots done besides decluttering. On Sunday I got so busy cleaning the kitchen that I forgot to go to yoga - but the house looks great. I also got some cooking done and some yardwork that I've been putting off since November or so. And some of my own writing, for the first time in, well, a long time.

I'm starting to get caught up on Shimmer stuff, too, which is an amazing feeling. (Speaking of which, have you bought your copy of the Autumn issue yet? Supplies are running low.)

Hell, I even did a few blog posts. Crazy productive!

Sean's arriving for a visit tomorrow, though, so I expect to be getting a lot less done for the next week. I'm really looking forward to it, though!

Spring decluttering....

For the past month or so, I've been busy going through all my stuff and getting rid of as much as I can. I'm not being very rigorous about it: if I have a faint impulse to keep something, it stays - so I'm really only purging crap I have zero interest in.

But despite these low standards, I'm getting rid of an astonishing volume of stuff. Today I took 6 garbage bags full of stuff to the thrift store - and this was at least my third trip there, with a similar volume of Stuff.

Where did all this crap come from? I thought I was pretty good about not having a lot of extraneous stuff, and about keeping what I do have under control. But no. Just bag after bag of stuff I no longer want, much of which I think I never wanted in the first place.

Feels good to get things streamlined and straightened out, though.

So what are you letting go of these days?

The Minotaur's Rabbit Just Keeps On Going

Should have called it The Minotaur's Energizer Bunny.

My story The Minotaur's Rabbit ran in Apex Digest #7. (If you haven't read it, I'm sure you can still grab a copy from the Apex site. Just so you know, this isn't a happy story about bunnies.)

I just found out that Michael Livingston used the story in his creative writing class at The Citadel. How cool is that? The students had a different perspective on the story than most of the other readers I've heard from. "Why's there a minotaur on a spaceship?" they asked, which led into a good discussion about the use of myth and symbolism in literature. I think the students interpreted it differently than I intended, but it sure sounds like it sparked a worthwhile discussion. Plus, I feel so established now. Thanks, Mike!

In other news, Jason Sizemore of Apex fame is considering a calendar featuring stories from issues 5-8, so he ran a poll to see which stories people were most interested in seeing on a calendar. The last time I checked the results, 15 people had voted for The Minotaur's Rabbit, which put it in the lead, and should be enough to secure a spot in the calendar. People sure do like their bunnies, I guess. Check it out for yourself!

The Shimmer Trailer

Hey, everyone, check out the video trailer for the Winter 2007 issue of Shimmer. It's up at our site right now: www.shimmerzine.com

It was produced and narrated by our super-awesome art director, Mary Robinette Kowal, and features music by John Scalzi.

And it's gorgeous.

If you're wondering when the Winter issue's going to be out - good news! It's at the printers, and we should be mailing it out in about 2 weeks.