Sacrifices must be made

First, some news, which you may have already seen in my Twitter stream. The release party and reading for |-1| has been scheduled! It will be at Magers & Quinn in Minneapolis on September 23. This gives you plenty of notice and time to plan, so get those airline tickets bought now if you need them.

The trailer for |-1| will be showing up very soon.

I've let my WoW account expire. This was mainly to make me a more productive writer, just like last time I took a long WoW break, when I finished |-1| and started YA MS the Second. Ironically, though, I plan to use the otherwise wasted time to now finish YA MS the Second, which is about a girl who plays WoW too much! Truly, the mind reels, does it not?*

Also ironically, YA MS the Third is done! Which is to say, it somehow earned agent ENIV's approval last week, and this week he might, ya know, show it to someone else. So that's fun.

Also fun: the last touch it needed required a smidge of research. I went down to the art supply store and rather sheepishly explained I needed some newsprint and vine charcoals. Then I got to do something I haven't done regularly in far too long: draw. I chose a desk lamp, for reasons I won't get into now, and had a great time. This was all so I could better describe the experience of drawing with charcoal on newsprint--the feel of it, the smell, the smudging on the sides of my fingers, et cetera. Anyway, there are like 49 more sheets of newsprint on that pad, and I intend to use them.

*The crying Night Elf above is not my toon, but some random level 13 I chose simply to illustrate a crying Night Elf. If you happen to recognize this toon (called Swan, by the way), perhaps it is yours. If so, I urge you to spend your four talent points. They don't get better if you let them age.

One for you, nineteen for me

I know you're all itching to hear how it went with the tax professional yesterday, so here's the scoop: excellently!

Our last two visits to the tax professional left us in small panics about getting our taxes paid. Since I work for myself and have no money automatically deducted, we always owed. (Also because I couldn't get my act together with the whole quarterly-estimated-payments thing.) This year, though, I was very good, and at the end of my meeting yesterday, we just about came out even. After paying the tax pro himself, we stand to get back about a hundred bucks. That's pretty damn perfect.

See, sure, everyone likes to get their tax refund. It's like free money, after all. But in reality it's the government paying back an interest-free loan you made to them over the course of the whole year. That doesn't seem fair! So the ideal situation, I think, is ours: I deduct my own taxes, put them into a savings account, and only pay what I have to. It really worked out great! My goal for next year is a big fat "zero" at the end of the appointment. Or better yet, the exact amount the tax pro charges.

(Of course, as it happens our government needs all the interest-free loans it can get right now, so maybe I'm thinking about this wrong.)

In other news, if Sam and Beth ever wake up from this nap, we're going out to lunch today. I'm supposed to be thinking of a place to go, but all I can come up with are burger places, like The Nook, Blue Door, Groveland Tap, Highland Grill . . . and I have a feeling Beth won't be feeling any of those. My guess is she will suggest Tanpopo, the Japanese noodle shop she swoons over. I like it too, very much, but I am just obsessed with burgers lately. Maybe I'm anemic.

After lunch, I'm doing some write-time, though I think it's will have to be 100% Eric Stevens work. He's got this basketball title due on Tuesday, and it just refuses to write itself.

Oh, and finally, my next break from WoW begins Wednesday. Why do I keep scheduling my last day to be on server-maintenance day?! Why?!

Valentime!

A Valentine's Day update.

Beth, Sam, and Harry are still in bed. Harry was good enough to wake me up at around 7:30 because he had to use the great outdoors. Of course, when we got back to the house after his walk, he climbed right back into bed and fell asleep. I am not so good at going back to sleep, so I've spent the last couple of hours thinking about what to make for breakfast once my wife wakes up, and goofing off in Northrend. Could my life be any richer??

I kid, of course. My life is the greatest.

We've said no gifts for V Day this year. This got me thinking: If my life were a sitcom or a romantic comedy, both of us would have gone to a friend, individually, or to a trusted but doofy cousin, or the like, and been convinced that when one's better half says "no gifts," they really mean "gifts." However, since my life is not a sitcom, nor a romantic comedy (though it is often funny and at times romantic), I am trusting that my wife and I are not so silly. So we will exchange cards and smooches, but no gifts. I think also we might get Chinese delivery from the place nearby that most resembles New York City Chinese takeout places. Which for the record isn't necessarily the best Chinese takeout. But moving on.

I'd also like to get some writing done today, which of course makes one wonder, Then shouldn't you be writing right now, while the whole family is sleeping, instead of blogging and killing brain cells in an MMO? Yeah, probably.

So. . . . Back to work: what should I make for breakfast?

Sun goes down, it's Tuesday evening. . . .

How many times would I have to get a small shock from the static electricity of the just-finished dryer before worrying about permanent damage?

I think I am making a greater effort on my latest SAB/Eric Stevens assignment, perhaps because its focus is the recent inauguration, and I am considering posterity.

I hear it will reach 40 degrees this Friday. That should be nice.

And speaking of nice, the in-laws will be here tomorrow, noonish, and I will finally be able to get downtown for lunch and try My Burger. I'll let you know how it is.

Also, heard from Aforementioned Editor, and we will meet next Thursday to further discuss YA MS the First. I will say nothing more about it until after that meeting. Between now and then, if you hear about writing, it will be completely SAB or YA MS the Second. Unless I foolishly start a new project. But I won't.

I'm off to Northrend for a little while. Wish me luck.

Stay on target. . . .

I skipped another day. I shouldn't be playing this fast and loose with a resolution (5/week, remember?) so early in the year.

The fact is, with YA MS the First done, I've been keeping away from the blog, I suppose. But that's a folly. So here's a small update:

1. I submitted the latest, longer draft of YA MS the First to aforementioned editor. When I first submitted this MS (albeit a much shorter version), he read it in one night. I don't hold any such hopes, but still, waiting blows so much.
2. Second meeting of my only class for this semester was last night. I'm not finding it to be very valuable as far as my education education (intentional double) goes, but I am learning a little about the Indigenous nations of North America.
3. The vacation in Azeroth is not the thrill I thought it would be. I don't think I will have any trouble making it only a vacation and giving up the game once again at the end of the 30 days.
4. I've decided while I wait to hear about YA MS the First, I'll get back to work on YA MS the Second. My plan is to make a very firm, strong outline to finish out the title, and to not shrink from the long road ahead. I intended this to be in two parts when I first conceived of it, but upon reflection, that felt daunting. I say daunting it shall be, then! And I will make it happen anyway.

All right, I suppose that's all I've got. I haven't mentioned Sam, but know this: he is right next to me, asleep. He snores a little sometimes.

Young-Adult Manuscript, the First

Um, I think it's, maybe . . . finished?

Just under 70k words, just over 200 pages. I'm not sure I've fixed all the issues of draft one, but hey, it's book length, right?

And I think, for the most part, it's not too bad.

I'll send it off before the end of the week, I expect. One more read through, since you know I am the typo king, and because I'll just feel better if I read it one more time.

Currently downloading the 10-day trial of WotLK, btw. Heh heh.

Resolute

I have never done this before, but what the hey.

RESOLUTIONS!

1. Finish both my YA manuscripts!

2. Finish at least one of the titles in my middle-grade trilogy.

3. Blog five times per week.

4. Cover the windows over the couch in plastic. Soon.

5. Teach Sam to talk, walk, and eat solid foods.

6. Eliminate caffeine entirely. That is, from my diet, not the world in general.

7. Get an agent!

8. Stop buying coffees everywhere. Even decafs.

9. Get that pesky old cholesterol down where it belongs.

And, if I can do all that stuff, one final resolution:

10. Get my druid to level 80. What?! Not, like, next week, but eventually. Jeez.

Happy New Year!

If only December had been NaNoWriMo!

Christmas is behind us. With it are also several dozen cookies, at least one turkey, three chickens, several imitation crabs, a bucket of mayo, five rolls, a quarter pound of sliced cheese, three portions of Grandma's potatoes, a liter of soda, two beers, six cups of decaf, and 6 hours of quality slick-road drive time. Woo!

Truth is, I made out like a bandit this season, with great eats and gifts and I should shut up. Also, the few gifts I either picked out on my own or had any amount of influence on were very well received, which is nice too.

In news more relevant to this forum, my writing for the last ten days has been fairly productive; it remains to be seen whether that productivity will prove useful to me in some way, namely monetarily! Ha. But seriously, I'm more than thirty-eight thousand words into YA MS 2 right now, and though I have already spotted a great many holes in its plot and timeline, which will need fixing in the revision stage, I'm still feeling pretty much good about it. The protagonist's voice feels fresh to me, and making her a gamer was huge fun. Plus, there's this really excellent feminist message . . . I think.

And speaking of gaming, I haven't played WoW in 46 days. But who's counting?

It's been a long time since the last update, so I won't try to cover every little thing, but I do want to add that Beth and I went to Good Earth for lunch again, and Chad was our waiter. AGAIN! It's starting to feel a little weird, to be honest. But I had the croque monsieur, which made me feel all oogy in a good way.

New favorite show

A rare Saturday update! All right, a rare update in general.

Just got done with lunch at Good Earth. Yes, a late lunch. Anyway, our waiter was Chad* again, if you can believe that, and he convinced me easily enough to get the turkey sandwich special, which was on oat cranberry bread, with provolone cheese and granny smith apple slices. I recommend it. Not sure it was quite as good as the similar sandwich once served at St. Helen Cafe in Williamsburg, but hey, at least Good Earth is still in business.

The main reason for my post is a new obsession: The Guild! It's one of these Internet-only sitcoms, with episodes 3 to 6 minutes long; Beth sent me the link for it earlier today and I watched every episode available, which is exactly 14, I believe. The awesomeness, besides being usually genuinely hilarious, is made up of two things, as far as I'm concerned:

1. It was written by and stars one of the Potentials. 50 points.
2. It is about the members of a guild in an MMO. 50 points.

For extra credit, one of the guild members is beginning to think, Hey, I should probably quit--or anyway cut down. 10 points.

That is a total of 110 points, which is an A+ on any scale.

Sure, you will need to "get" MMOs to "get" many of the jokes, but most of the humor is pretty clear, even if you're not a recovering druid.

*Chad was our waiter during our first and only previous visit to Good Earth, well over a year ago. He is noteworthy for his muscles, tattoos, loquaciousness, and shorts, which he wears all winter.