Dandelyon's Worlds

Well, although they're extending the deadline, I got my Why I Write essay in on time for the original deadline. Feel free to check it out. There will be voting in February, so I'll doubtless post this link again then, so if you're busy with holidays now, you can also check it out later. Of course, I'd have submitted it before Christmas, but the site went down--thus the deadline extension. But still, it's something accomplished, and especially this close to the new year, it's good to have one more thing done.

I also got artwork done for a contest entry. I'm wishing I could share it with you, because I'm pleased with how it came out, which is especially pleasing to me since I started feeling very uninspired. It's cool how things like that sometimes just work.

And frustrating when they don't.

The story I sent to The Beast Within II got held by the editor for a second read, but he decided it didn't fit the anthology as well as other stories he had. Now I have to figure out where to send it next.  But it was good of the editor to let me know he held it for a second read--personal rejection letters are a treasure (though, of course, not as shiny a treasure as an acceptance).

I rewrote (and re-titled) another story yesterday, and over the past few days have been redoing research for another incomplete short story, which I want to submit to an anthology that closes soon. Time to reorganize my cork board!

And I got more mundane errands run today, buying fish food while it's 40% off, a brief grocery run, going to the bank, all dull but necessary.  Now off to submit to that contest!

I was awakened very early, by my current schedule, to pay the oil delivery guy. 

And then, well, I was awake.  And yesterday's mail told me that my unemployment payment this week was partial, which probably means I've reached the end of the extended payments.  I'm hoping that the extra extension is in effect already, otherwise I don't know what I'll do for money when the small amount I've been able to keep set aside from my tax return this year is gone.  Anyone want to commission me for anything, now's your chance!!!

Being awake, and assuming that the unemployment office is closed until next year, I set to working on something that I can do, and got about 2000 words in on the Grandmother Marie story, bringing it nearly to 2900 words.  It's somewhere in the vicinity of half done now; I wanted to finish the first draft today, but eventually the fact that I hadn't gotten my 8 hours sleep set my eyelids drifting downward, and I returned to bed.  I've got to figure out a real title for that story!

Now my bath is running, I entered the SF Reader short story contest, and I'm packing stuff so I can draw icons as thank-yous for the donors who've supported me the most in cash and comments this year at the New Year's party at Lytheria. 

And then I dropped in to the creators' forums at Torn World and noticed there's banners to use for Torn World -- it's opening VERY soon now, in 2010.  But 2010 is now just hours away!  I'm not sure exactly when Ellen will declare it officially open, it could be as early as Midnight in whatever Alaska time zone Ellen lives in, but here's the site:  http://www.tornworld.net  Check it out!!!

There is already some public content on the site, and there will be more--fiction, poetry, and artwork.  And there will be significantly more content for subscribers, as well as a system of credits so you can vote with your cash to let us know which pieces you like best.  You will also be able to adopt characters, and to contact writers and artists to commission stories or artwork about them, if you don't want to write a story yourself--and your character will be able, in the stories, to interact with other characters in the Torn World.  I'm very excited to see how this will all work in practice!!!  There's a system to have stories approved as "canon", or officially part of the Torn World, which includes checking with the owners of any character in a story, so if you own a character, no one can marry them off (for instance) without your approval.

ellenmillion  has been working hard to get the site ready, and the other creators have been beta-testing things for months, so we're all excited to be welcoming new people there!