The Kelpie

I'm thrilled to assist my friend and writing-critique-group member, Trisha J. Wooldridge (T.J. Wooldridge), by revealing some tantalizing snippets from her upcoming first novel, The Kelpie. And I'm also happy to be participating in her scavenger hunt! Enjoy the snippet below--and thanks to Trish for letting me be a part of this!

~ Suzanne

            Water sloshed as if someone were just getting out from a swim.  Rings rippled out from a bunch of plants moving toward the shore.  It slipped from the water, stepping up, revealing the weed-covered body of a horse.

            Not a horse.  The nightmare of a horse.  It curled its lips.  Beneath the greenish black lips were sharp, shark-like teeth--not the teeth of gentle, hay eating horses. 

            Its eyes reflected – or glowed – red in the sun.

"Suzanne is a member of my critique group, Traveling Java, who were key in making The Kelpie a reality—and making easier the lives of my Spencer Hill Press editors, Vikki and Laura.  Suzanne also happens to be the only mom in our group, who also happens to have children around Heather's and her siblings' ages, so she was especially helpful in making sure my parenting bits were accurate!  Thank you, Suzanne!"

Latest Poetry Acceptance! And upcoming FUN!!!

I'm happy to announce that my poem, "There are the Words; and There are the Spaces" has been published in the March 2013 issue of The Wayfarer: A Journal of Contemplative Literature.

This is a wonderful new journal--I highly recommend you check it out! Not just for my poem (which is of course spectacular! *wink*) but the photography is amazing and the written pieces are stellar.

A free e-version and link to purchase a print edition are below:

Link: http://homeboundpublications.com/thewayfarer/

ALSO...WATCH THIS SPACE for some fun, coming later this week. You like fun, don't you? Let me just leave you with the words, "scavenger hunt." ;-)

My Arisia 2013 Panel Schedule

Arisia--an awesome science-fiction and related interests convention--is sneaking up. Two weeks away, give or take a day. I've been a panelist here for several years. Last year I had a large number of gender-related panels. I decided to mix it up this year and expressed interest in other panel topics. Here's my schedule:

FRIDAY

The Mind of the Nerd: Psychology and Fandom

A Hero Like Me

Worldbuilding with the Soft Sciences

SATURDAY

Being a Sex-Positive Parent

Zombies: Victims of Parasites?

SUNDAY

When Faith and Science Meet

Broad Universe Rapid-Fire Reading

The Psychology of Villainy  ** I've asked them to take this off my schedule, because my Sunday is crazy.**

Have We Arrived?

Why Zombies? Why Now?

MONDAY

How Fans Hurt and Help Public Faces of Fandom

The Undead and the People That Love Them

The above should be linked to the descriptions. I know the formatting is a bit wonky, because I cut-and-pasted from the site. If the panel titles are NOT linked, go to http://2013.arisia.org/Bios and scroll down until you get to me.

Who's going to Arisia? What are your thoughts on the above panels?

Why I Miss My e-Mail Client

I've been contemplating why I have so much more difficulty keeping track of my "to-do" list now that I'm not working an office job.

I haven't worked for a year and a half, and for a while I figured it was simply that I am better about "getting stuff done" when there is an outside influence providing structure to my days. And that is part of it.

But there is so much disparate stuff to keep track of now... Stuff related to the kids. Bills to be paid. When I have library duty. Medical appointments. And all the stuff related to being a writer: Subscriptions, periodic searches for markets, keeping up with Facebook lists and emails, etc.

For the past year and a half, my ability to stay on top of everything has declined. I am constantly "losing" emails, or not responding to things, or letting balls drop.

I have finally figured out I MISS MICROSOFT OUTLOOK.

My primary email is gmail. It does not provide the ability to color code items to categorize them. (I work best when I can categorize things visually.) Also, I can't follow an entire conversation, because gmail treats every new email--even it's part of a longer discussion--as a discrete email. I WANT TO SEE THE CONVERSATION FFS!

So, I'm trying to use the "Tasks" feature in gmail and I may just have to go back to always having a notebook or something with me to keep notes/to-do's. Because I just can't keep track of it all.

What do you do?

Waiting is the Hardest Part

I've recently had my busiest writing time ever. I'm exhilarated and exhausted and looking forward to seeing what the next few months have in store for me.

During the past month and a half, I wrote two poems and two short stories. I worked on my novel (more on THAT later), and have been working with an artist to bring Interview With the Faerie (Part I) to life as an illustrated book.

I submitted a poem to Mythic Delirium, and it was rejected. I believe this is my third rejection from MD. If this keeps up Mike Allen will have to issue me a "frequent rejections" card  ;-)

One of my stories went to the Once Upon an Apocalypse anthology. This is a two-volume anthology--the first contains re-tellings of fairy tales, folk tales and nursery rhymes with a zombie twist--the second uses the same source material with a cthulhu/Lovecraftian flavor. My submission, Treacherous, Lying, Little Star, twists the nursery rhyme "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star and places it into a zombie apocalypse. (Quote from my son: "Mom, I think you need therapy.)

It appears the anthology has received hordes of submissions--especially heavy on the zombie side. So the competition will be stiff. No matter this outcome, I can say that this story (once I had the idea) was completed in about twenty-four hours and is one of the best things I've ever written.

I submitted the second story last night right at the deadline. It went to another themed anthology, Doorways To Extra Time. This story did not roll out  as easily as the zombie/fairytale story, and it really needed more tweaking, so I'm more concerned about it. It tells the story of a selfish and shallow college-aged woman with a hugs chip on her shoulder. The child of working-class Greek parents, she resents her humble background. When her life begins to fall apart, she uncovers her deceased Grandmother's magical lineage and decides to call upon the Greek equivalent of The Fates to change her life. (Public Service Announcement: Do not approach deities with requests to change your life unless you are super respectful and very clear on your intent. It also helps if you are a nice person.)

I'll save the update on my novel for the next time!