Posted a bunch of shorts over at onefeythought:

Unicorn: This isn’t my first time holding a gun to a man’s head, and if I’m lucky, it won’t be the last.  For Molly.
SILKWORM: In the next ten minutes, hundreds of babies would be born, and they’d be naked.
old-new: Out with the old; in with the new.
Love Letter:  "Dear Elizabeth, You are such a bitch, you know that?"
Steely:  I hardly even feel the needle prick.
Mind-Brain Connection: Rachel has to go to the Doctor today.
Crack: They say the sense of smell is a person's greatest source of memory.

You gotta friend the journal to read these ones.

So there was this contest at the PPM blog.  And I won!  Well okay, I didn't win win.  I only won the random drawing part.  But that's still winning because there's a prize and there's entering and that's all that's needed for winning, right?  Anyway, I am receiving in the mail a copy of Your First Novel, which is good because I already have the other one in the giveaway and the person who (actually) won claimed it.  When I get it, I'll post a review.

I'm also getting three others in the mail soon.  One is about writing groups and how to make them succeed, which I got based off PPM's weekly Writer Interview a couple of weeks ago with writer Becky Levine.  3am Epiphany I got to help me battle the mythological writer's block, and also just because I respond really well to prompts.  The Art of War for Writers claims to deal with pretty much every step of writing from plotting and characters to querying and dealing with rejection and envy.  Woo envy.  Again, when I get and read through these, I'll post reviews.

In other writerly news, I have finished a very long chapter 5 for something, and jeez.  This chapter should not be 9000 words long.

Cheery-bye, mortals.

I love my alma mater.  I know some of my friends didn't, were happy to get out, breathed huge gasping breaths in relief after wrenching themselves out of the stranglehold.  But I was perfectly happy.  And I still am!  I've been working here for a million years now, have lived in Baltimore for over a third of my life now, and now that I'm galloping recklessly toward yet another graduation, I've been struck with the realisation that I actually... enjoy being here.

Yay!

Ok, that aside, I need to make a report.

Games:  If you like storytelling, Coen Brothers movies, and games at all, you need to get a copy of Fiasco and play that shit.  Now.  We played this on Labor Day and it took about five hours, which included an hour break between Acts while we waited for the pizza, a baby distraction, and all new players.  If you can, buy the book and support Bully Pulpit Games.

Writing:  I have been doing less of that and more graphics-making.  Mostly I've been prettying up my website and my writing journal and I think they look pretty good.  For clearness, I'll say I didn't actually design my website.  I've just been making some of the graphics.  But don't think I haven't been doing anything productive.  I've been making notes on a new project and pushing out shortshorts and plot maps in preparation for nanowrimo2010, and I've been buying and reading books about writing.  So... that totally counts, right?

Anyway, that's the update.

Happy fallish chill, humans.

New flash-type fiction posted at One Fey Thought.  Original entries are friends-only; don't be shy, friend me already!

A Boat Of My Own Making
462 Words

Guess who!  That's right.  Someone got writer's block.  When all else fails, make faces. These are from manga.com's facemaker.

so, i have started a fiction journal.  I don't know how many of you still know that I exist, or how many of you are interested, but this writing journal is called onefeythought.  I will be posting the stuff known as fanfiction there.  I write for Psych (if you aren't watching it, start) and had been doing some for Harry Potter (might start that up again).  I will also be posting original flash fiction there, friends-only, and some novel snippits (also friends-only), so please friend that journal if you want to be made aware of these posts.

onefeythought @ livejournal.com

in other news, a list!

1) there is a romantic interest.  things are going well. 

2) writing is goin well too, although I'm at a bit of a standstill, novel-wise.  am currently searching out sources of inspiration.

3) I has a twitter account.  if you do too, go 'head and lemme know, and I'll follow you and you can follow me and it'll be fun.  agelade @ twitter

4) I know.  this is a pathetic list.  I'll write again when there's something worth writing about.  I mean there's the whole prop 8 thing and that's great.  And the apocalypse hasn't happened, so there's that. 

anyway, cheerio!

• School: So with one class to go in my program before my Capstone project, I have a 4.0. This is good news, but doesn't feel as important as it once might have.  Say, as an undergrad.  Not sure why.  Because it's not a full-time program?  I don't feel badly about that though, so if that's the reason, then it doesn't matter.  Maybe it'll be nice when I go to apply for my next program.
• Finisher's Club:  Out of my writing class fall semester (no credit, but I liked it much better than my credit class that term) came a group of like-minded individuals.  D and I used to talk after class every week and eventually came round to the same idea of keeping the class going, forming a writer's group with some of the people.  We drafted a rules and by-laws and mission statement and sent invitations and set our first meeting for after New Year's.  Some 5 months later we have lost two and gained one for a total of four members.  And it's going really well.
• Writing:  My personal writing has been bolstered by this.  Good feedback and a reason to write a one-page story as homework every other week.  I've started a little collection that I might polish up to submit.  However, as I'm finished with my book, I don't have anything new to write for my turn at submissions, and I'm getting very little done on book two.  It's distressing.  I did get a lot of the plot worked out, though, so hopefully I'll be able to focus once I'm done painting and moving.  When all else fails, throw in some mysterious murders.
• Moving?:  Yes, moving.  But not house, just room.  I'm moving into the smaller of the two rooms available, and spillingvelvet is moving into the larger room.  I think she has more stuff than I do in the first place, but the real reason is that I've coveted the light in the smaller room for ages.  Alisa will still have the smallest room, but she's got the best windows.  Really the rooms are spaced perfectly for roommates.  If one were buying the house for her family, it might be a toss-up which room to choose for the master bedroom, but for splitting rent, it's pretty evenly matched.  I'm doing my back wall dark coffee brown and the other three walls light blue with brick red striping.  Then I can start moving the furniture.
• Work:  I have got a new job.  It's amazing and I'm living better and have more money, and really.  They say you can't buy happiness, but the amount of stress I have shed from simply having enough that I don't have to constantly do figures in my head to decide whether to buy bread is astounding.  I've started a savings account and have been able to donate more generously.  I've created a profile at kiva loans, a micro-financing agency that caters mostly to developing countries and loans to individuals and groups, and have made one loan so far that is due to start repayment in a month.  If you sign up, tell them I sent you:  kiva.org.  My email address is agelade@gmail.com.  Anyway, yes, the job itself is good too.  It's not just the money, even though it has enabled me to do things for the house like get a Wii last Saturday - we're doing a good thing for the employees of the University and Hospital and I feel appreciated.
• Ladies and Gentlemen:  Actually neither.  I'm at a curious place, relationship-wise.  I like someone, but I'm not in a rush to act on it.  I've only rehearsed the "hey, I kinda like you" speech once, and not very seriously.  I'm considering dating other people while the crush runs its course.  I'm also not talking about it to people much, b/c I don't really want to talk it into being or out of being.  Just... sitting around being chill about it.
• Oh, technology!: I got some.  In addition to the Wii above, I got a Droid which I have named Nostradamus.  I got a new computer with Windows 7 on it which I LOVE.  Seriously.  Windows 7 is awesome.  I am not being paid to say that. 

And I think that's it.  I've had some crazy intense dreams lately, but I don't remember most of them any more.  Anyway, no one wants to hear about other people's dreams unless they are in them.  Some of them are going to be great fodder for stories if I can bang them into submission.

Dear Google,

I have long been your hugest fangirl, singing your praises for everything from gDocs to chat to notebook (RIP) to calendar.

So please, get yer damn act in gear.  This has been 15 of the most frustrating minutes evar, because even when I go to search for things on, say, ask.com, the search STILL hangs because the page is waiting on google ads or analytics to load.  Please figure out how to pull your tendrils out of other sites when your own servers or whatever crash and burn.  I know you can do it!

Thanks.

Ps I can't even try to figure out what's going on b/c the google group for gmail is obviously hanging as well. 

I've been really productive.  A couple of weeks ago I cleaned my car in preparation for this date that had the possibility of continuing on somewhere else, and I'd be driving. So I cleaned out the coffee cups and vaccuumed the carpets and wiped down the interiors and generally had a good time.  Today I finished the job by giving the outside a good scrubbing.  It's all shiny now.  If only I could pop the dent out of the roof.  I need one of those magnet things, or suction cup things. I don't suppose anyone has one they'd lend me?

I also went shoe shopping yesterday, because I really needed some black shoes to wear with my black stuff.  I have brown shoes, but my black ones got, shall we say, peed on.  SO.  Payless.  Look payless, you and I have had good times.  You've always had something I liked.  Sandles.  The high-tops era.  The period of shit-kickers.  So what's with all the shoes in the girl's section having three inch high heels and straps everywhere?  Do not want, Payless.  You're better than that. 

I finally found something i liked in a whole other section.  Suffice to say, I now know for a certainty that I wear a size 4 boys.  Sigh.  Result: brown airwalks with lion rampant; black faux-crocodile dress shoes.

So after I washed my car, I went back into the house and proceeded to fall UP the stairs.  So like a human, I cursed and went about my business.  I doodled in my room for a couple of minutes massaging my jammed pinky and then went into the bathroom to pee.  And then the pain hit and I suddenly couldn't breathe and my knees hit the floor and I threw the toilet seat up because I actually have a very clear head when I'm about to vomit.

Luckily I didn't actually vomit.  And my finger isn't broken.  I don't know why it hit like that, but I can bend it (with some pain) and it's not swollen.  So I'm good, and I don't want to throw up anymore.  Yay!

so now i'm torn between taking a shower and writing something.  something about a girl who breaks her finger falling up the stairs, or something.

Ch-ch-ch-changes.

I cut my hairs, and dyed them too.  See icon.  That's pretty much it, with shorter hairs in back.  I also bought sunglasses, so the icon's even more accurate.  yay.  Also, I got this laptop named Archimedes which makes me all kinds of happy.  That was a couple of weeks ago.  I've all but stopped using my desktop computer entirely.  It's so much easier to write on this little thing, and it's tiny.  Acer Aspire One, linux flavour.  <3s  What else.  Oh, and I finally got a cell phone.  That was actually a couple of months ago, but it's been a long time since I've done an update.  I'm all up to date, until they come out with something else.

I haf also bin going on dates.

It's true.  I don't actually like the brand new first date feeling, and I don't particularly like the boring could care less if we hang out tonight feeling.  If I could bottle the middling "we've been dating for a couple of weeks and I still like having you around" feeling, I'd be set for life.  I know there are people who swear by that first flustery butterfly-y feeling of nervous excitement, but I'm not one of them.  I like it for two seconds until I think what a load of bullshit they're just as scared as I am, and then I start thinking about scooping them up and gently depositing them just outside the front door like they're a little spider I've got to man up and get rid of.

Which is probably not you know, the right way to think about it.

HOWEVER.  I have been finding this recent bout of dating to be nice and relaxed and just the right amount of exciting, and I think it's because I don't give a shit about making Impressions or Presenting Myself.  I just want to hang out, do stuff, have coffee, talk, and as long as that's what they want too, I'm cool.  It's like dating for friends that may or may not eventually kiss you when you wink at them.

I have also been writing.

I wrote a short story, 3200 wds, a week or so ago.  I like it.  But I need to write more often if I'm ever going to like, have any chance at all of hitting the right editor with the right story.  It's so subjective and hit or miss sometimes that I've really come to terms with rejection (I say that now, having never been rejected - let's just sit back and see what happens).  I know it happens.  I know it's like a bunch of stuff hitting all at once.  But you still think, if it's good, it'll sell no matter what, and the truth is, if you don't find the market for it, it won't sell, no matter how good it is.

I may be wrong.  In fact, I probably am.  Things are too complex for anyone to ever be right about anything.

But anyway, I'm satisfied with the story.

I need to write more Rosebush though.

I got a very nice compliment on book one the other day from wyndhover , which I won't repeat because I'm not writing this in order to convince anyone of anything.  She had a lot of good criticism that I'm going to take into account when I'm editing, and lots of nice things to say, and now I'm all pumped to write more of book two. 

And I want a tattoo.

I've always said I could never get a tattoo because I'm too fickle.  I'd get it and the next week bemoan it, wondering how in the world I ever thought getting a picture of a snake winking while eating an apple was a great idea.  However, I've put a lot of time and love into my book, which features black birds, and I think it might warrant some permanence.  I love black birds anyway, so it's not something I wouldn't otherwise like.  I need to find a design, and I'm open to suggestions.  I prefer a bird in flight.  And I need to decide on where.  The choices are the underside of my left wrist and the nape of my neck.  I know the wrist one will hurt a lot.  That's ok.  I def do not want an armband, navel circle, hip, ankle, or tramp stamp tat.  I could deal with a forearm one, but it's not in my top choices.  The design itself should be small and black only.  Suggestions?

I will probably be going up to visit shovel_bum  so's we can get tattooed together.  Since I'm a virgin and all.  If that doesn't work out, I will con someone else into going with me.

Oh yeah, music.

I have to write some stuff for this year's compilation.  I've discovered I really love recording.  Or maybe it's just the Nice Package guys.  I'm psyched to be working with them.  I wanna get famous and turn other studios down in favour of working with Jason and Damon again.  :-D  For this one, I'm torn between Brokenland Parkway (aka Jibbsey's Song), Star girl (working title), and Clean Air Act (aka that song where you sing about killing animals for love).  So we'll see. 

Happy rainy cold, humans.