Thursday, May 19th, 2011  I recently sold my flash fiction piece, “To Bead or Not to Bead” to The Gunpowder Review.
The Gunpowder Review is a literary magazine which publishes the creative work of women writers, artists, and photographers with a Harford County or Maryland connection.
Since I grew up in Harford County (Go Hawks!) I qualify.
“To Bead or Not To Bead” is a pun-y little piece about the Greek Fates — those women who spin, weave and cut the threads of life. You can probably guess what kind of direction the story takes, judging by its title.
 I’ll let you know when it’s available.
In other writerly goodness, I’ve received my paperback copy of Hellebore and Rue.
::: Exciting! :::
I don’t know what magic was used to print the cover of the anthology, but it’s wonderful!
The cover feels like a very soft suede, smooth and — almost — warm to the touch. (And, yes, it’s made of paper.) I like handling it very much.
Hellebore and Rue has received a wonderful review, in which the reviewer mentioned that she’d like to see a sequel or longer work with my characters (which totally makes my day).
How cool is it that a reader wants to know more after the story is over?
Food for thought…
Sunday, May 15th, 2011  I went to the M3 Concert last night.
It was a last-minute decision, since the concert date snuck up on me: I thought I still had a few weeks to decide.
For the uninitiated, the M3 is an all-day festival featuring a slew of metal bands that play from 11 a.m. until 11 p.m. There are two stages, with the A bands playing on one, and the B bands playing on the second: alternating slightly so that there’s always a band playing while one stage is breaking down and setting up for the next.
Since I went alone, I brought my latest manuscript with me to edit between sets. (I am soooooo behind my self-imposed deadline to finish these edits!)
While checking my bag, the ticketer noticed I’d brought work with in me, and told me I wasn’t the only one: some guy had brought in a huge book to study for an exam.
“You gotta do what you gotta do,” I told her in perfect English. She said, “That’s what he said, too!”
Um, yeah.
I’d arrived late, and the outdoor arena was PACKED. I had to wade through crowds of people to get to the pavilion and take my AWESOME seat: 14th row, front and center.
And what do I find when I get there? Study-guy, with his book propped open on my seat. (Hi, Bill!)
That’s not the small world part of all this. It turns out that he graduated the same year I did, in the same county, only he went to the Vo-Tech school, and I went to the local high. AND, it turns out he knew well my (high school) boyfriend’s best friend.
It took a concert (a decade or so) later for us to meet. If not for the vagaries of fate, we might have met way back when.
Small world, eh?
As for the concert (if you’re interested) Sebastian Bach — formerly of the band Skid Row — played far too loud. The sound reverberated in the arena too much and muddied the music. The band played some Skid Row hits and some new music, and had tons of energy, but you could tell they hadn’t been playing together long. The lead guitarist for the band couldn’t have been 18 years old, but he could jam. That kid’s going places.
Tesla stole the show. They’re a mature band, and it showed: they worked around each other on stage like they’d been doing it for years and the music was tight. They’d also turned down the music-level when they started and you could hear all the notes in the music: everything was clean. Quite impressive. They’ve got a new album coming out soon. I plan to add it to my collection.
Lita Ford played lame. Her sound was good, the music was tight, but noticeably slower on the pieces I sat in on. Also: she tried for too much control with her voice, less screaming, and she sounded more like a folk singer than a rocker. She looked good though.
Whitesnake headlined, and closed down the night. They started out with some (literally) screaming tune I couldn’t put a name to. Like Bach, the speakers were turned up way too loud. There was so much distortion I couldn’t hear a thing. Luckily, someone else noticed (I’ve been to concerts where they haven’t!) and potted the speakers down. It got better after that.
They, too, played all the old favorites, as well as some new ones. I’ll be adding their new album to my collection, too. David Coverdale looked fit, and sounded great (when he wasn’t screaming).
I’m already looking forward to next year’s M3.
Wednesday, May 4th, 2011  Ever since I posted the story about the typewriter factory possibly closing, I’ve come across more typewriter stories on the ‘net than I thought possible…without even looking for them.
I think this one, about the artist Paul Smith, is pretty interesting. He was born in 1921, with such a bad case of cerebral palsey that he didn’t attend school.
It didn’t stop him from creating some wonderful art – with a typewriter.
Smith taught himself to be an artist, using shading techniques similar to charcoal drawings. He most often used the keys @ # $ % ^ & * ( ) _ to create his art, backing up the carriage and typing over and over again in the same areas of the page. He sometimes smeared the ink with his thumb, adding depth to the picture.
It’s a far cry from ascii art, eh? Here’s some by Jorn Barger for comparison. 
During his life, Smith created hundreds of pieces, including portraits of presidents, animals, religious icons, and especially seascapes and pictures of boats. Often, he gave the pieces away.
I love how he wrote “Typed by Paul Smith” on each piece he created.
See more of his art at the paulsmithfoundation.org.
Wednesday, April 20th, 2011 It’s been a while since I’ve posted a fortune-cookie fortune.
When I do, I usually jump on my soapbox and rant about fortunes not being fortunes anymore. (Seriously, when was the last time you heard, “You will be lucky in business.” ?)
Fortunes should predict something. Anything.
I’m tired of these modern slips which provide such pithy commentary as, “We have too many sounding words and too few actions that correspond with them.”
Worse, are those that tell you what to do: “Find release from your cares. Have a good time.”
Once, I got a ‘fortune’ that told me I have idea problems–not good for a writer– and rather rude, too. That’s tantamount to name calling, in my opinion. Sadly, I’ve even cracked open cookies which had no fortune at all.
At least this one put me in charge of everything for the day.
But today’s fortune really takes the cake:
Thursday, April 14th, 2011  NPR is reporting that a new Dr. Seuss book will be available in the fall.
I’m so excited! I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Dr. Seuss.
I have every book he’s ever written (venerated on the top shelf of one of my many, many, bookcases) but apparently not every story.
But you can bet I will by this fall!
These seven collected tales were printed in magazines in the 50s, and never collected into any volume. According to the article, some of them have not been in circulation in over 60 years.
How cool is that?
I have other favorites from childhood, including Milne and Nesbit (and Heinlein and Asimov, but they hardly qualify – even if I was reading them all together).
So: if you could have a “collected works” of any one childhood author on your top shelf, who would it be?
Monday, March 14th, 2011 Two Pi interludes in one day, how kewl is that?
Lauren Jackson of the Pacific Northwest Librarians sent me a link to a very fine infographic about Pi (below). I had to share. (It’s had me giggling all the while I’m typing this.)
To let blog readers who may not follow me on Facebook in on the joke: I’m giggling because it comes on the heels of a Facebook post I made earlier today about an infographic on infographics:
Here’s the infographic on infographics in case you’re wondering. The Pi graphic isn’t nearly as colorful, but it’s chock-full of geeky math goodness. That’s a hit in my book.
Thanks, Lauren!
Source: Visualizing Pi
You can see a larger version of the Pi infographic by clicking on it.
Monday, March 14th, 2011  It’s here! March 14. It’s Pi Day.
(Get it? The date is 314.)
I talked a little bit about it in this Pi post last year.
For the uninitiated:
The Greek letter Pi is the symbol for the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter. It’s celebrated on March 14, (3/14) because the first few digits of Pi are 3.14. Pi is unique because it’s the only fraction which does not repeat.
The folks over at Pi Day.org have links to Pi’s first million digits. Very cool.
Three years in a row, the blog 360 (a very cool math blog) posted a Pi Sudoku. Not this year. But here are links to previous pages:
Pi Sudoku 2008
Pi Sudoku 2009
Pi Sudoku 2010
Check out this link:
http://3.14159265358979323846264338327950288419716939937510582097.org/
(It doesn’t link to any really nifty math stuff, unfortunately, but the URL is still pretty kewl, no?)
And here’s a wonderful page called the Joy of Pi which has tons of very fun Pi links.
I’m off to read about Pi and the Fibonnaci Numbers.
Happy Pi Day!
p.s. Today is also Albert Einstein’s birthday…he didn’t discover Pi, but he’s geeky coolness unto himself.
Tuesday, March 8th, 2011 I’ve recently transferred my Web site to a new service provider.
Hooray! You should see enhanced performance and experience no more timeouts!
Most glitches have been worked out, and for the most part, it should have been seamless.
Email is the last glitch to get past.
If you sent me anything after 10 pm last night and before 8:00 a.m. this morning, and received a bounce, please resend. It should get to me now.
Thanks!
Saturday, February 26th, 2011  I had the opportunity to visit the Edgar Allan Poe House — now a museum of all things Poe — when I attended Balticon a few years ago.
It’s tiny, very cramped, with a winding staircase to the second floor, so narrow as to be almost claustrophobic. The staircase is nearly ladder-steep, and I found it more comfortable coming down backwards, after viewing the bedroom, than trying to navigate the usual way.
The museum contains very little: some photographs, a city directory turned to the page of Poe’s listing, Poe’s lapdesk (which the curator refers to as his laptop) and a few more odds and ends.
Not much, really. (Still enough to hold this Poe fan’s attention for a couple hours.)
But Poe is so ingrained in the history of Baltimore that it seems a travesty to me to cut funding.
Yet, that’s what Baltimore has decided to do.
Beginning in 2012, the Poe Museum is required to be “self-sustaining” or it will cease to exist.
You can help by signing this petition begging them not to cut funding.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I posted a photo of Poe’s “laptop” and one of his grave on my Balticon post. See them here. I’ll dig up the photos and post a few additional ones in the next few days.
Thursday, January 20th, 2011  Apparently, it’s National Coffee Break Day.
(Not to be confused with National Coffee Day, September 29). Today, we’re just taking a break.
I’ve celebrated several times. How about you?
In my house, I’m the only one who drinks coffee, which is really cool, because that means it’s all mine. On the other hand, sometimes it would be nice to enjoy a cup with someone.
Sometimes I’ll forgo a coffee craving because I don’t want to make an entire pot.
Another cool thing: I can’t remember the last time I actually made coffee. The Husband of Awesome™ makes me a pot every morning. (Have I mentioned that he doesn’t drink coffee?!)
I’m looking forward to Saturday. I’ll be dropping in on my folks. They have one of those restaurant-grade coffee makers which spills out a pot of java almost faster than it takes you to find a mug and slop in some cream. Some Saturdays, we’ll go through five or six pots of coffee for the five of us. Joy.
I like my coffee with cream and just cool enough to gulp. I like to drink it fast because if it sits too long in the cup it starts to to turn funky. I also prefer the first cup out of the pot because it tastes better than any other.
How about you? Any special coffee preferences?
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