Dandelyon's Worlds

Just when I start getting my notifications for comments again, LJ is attacked. I've managed to load the firs page of my friendslist once today. *sigh* I miss you folks!

So, I went to a job interview today. I'm not holding my breath for the results; it's in an area of law that I have no experience in. However, the ladies I was talking to seemed comfortable that I could do the work, so I'm not writing it off either. Of course, last time I was looking intensively, one lawyer told me he was certain I could do the job--and that there were another 25 people he was sure could do the job who he'd also interviewed.

Then I get home and read:

Just in his mid-20s, Brian Deschane has no college degree, very little management experience and two drunken-driving convictions.

Yet he has landed an $81,500-per-year job in Gov. Scott Walker's administration overseeing environmental and regulatory matters and dozens of employees at the Department of Commerce. Even though Walker says the state is broke and public employees are overpaid, Deschane already has earned a promotion and a 26% pay raise in just two months with the state.  

The rest of the story is here:  http://www.jsonline.com/watchdog/noquarter/119159584.html  The author's theory is that he got the job because his father donated big time to the Walker campaign.  Even without knowing about his father's deep pockets, with all the unemployed people out there, I'd have trouble believing he was the most qualified applicant.

*sigh* 

In better news, tomorrow I get to go vote.  Here's hoping the people who stayed home when Walker got elected have realized that voting matters. 

A girl's gotta dream.

Yes, I know, technically it's spring. But that's still just a technicality.

The news is full of wonderful, encouraging news. Unemployment was up again last month (no surprise in February), 51 percent of the jobs lost were womens’ jobs, and 95 percent of the new jobs went to men.

From my personal experience, there seems to be a slight increase in job listings, but so far no increase in phone calls responding to my resume, which is to say, I haven’t gotten any calls since early January.

All of this is complicating the fact that it’s the end of the “allergens collect in the house” winter heating season, so I'm using up a LOT of Kleenex (which is distracting as well as time consuming). And the Kleenex doesn't keep the allergies from making me tired.

Have I mentioned how much depression and being too tired resemble each other?

I’ve got lots I want to get done, and it's really hard to get started, especially on housework (since that puts my nose into the thick of the fight, so to speak) and on creative things, which go SO much better when one has a little energy. I sure hope the weather gets better soon. I know from past years that being able to open the windows and air out the house will help.

In better news, Torn World is currently #6 on the Top Webfiction Website! It’s wonderful to see the banner up, but even better that people looking for things to read might stop by and check us out.

If you enjoy my Torn World stories, please consider stopping by the Top Webfiction site: http://topwebfiction.com/vote.php?for=torn-world is the link to vote for us. You can also vote for other cool things, like Addergoole, Spots, and Shadow Unit—and a lot more. Your vote is counted as of the moment you vote; the default page counts votes in the last week, but you can change that and see how many different people voted for a project in the last month or year.

I plan to start posting this link during each Muse Fusion, and also whenever I post a draft of Torn World work here, so those of you interested in voting can do so easily.  And thank you to the people who do bote.

I hope to hear from you!  So what interesting, thought provoking, or inspiring things have you come across lately?

I'm unemployed again, which means I've been back to job hunting since December. Today I got a call letting me know that the people I was temping with at the beginning of the summer are looking for someone to cover a maternity leave. So I may soon be back to temporary work again. At least, I like the people I'd be working with.

But I'm ready to have a permanent job again, so I can do things like plan my time and budget my money.

I spent part of the day sending out resumes, part making phone calls, part polishing the three Torn World stories I got from this month's Muse Fusion, and getting two submitted to the Canon Board, part updating my spreadsheet of which stories I have out to editors and sending queries, and part doing chores. (Well, I sent one query, but English grammar wants items in lists to stick to parallel construction, which means it sounds weird to have a list of things that are plural and then stick in something that's singular).

I had planned to go to the bank and the post office and do other chores, until I realized it was MLK Day. Besides, it was snowing today, and slippery out, so I didn't even do the other errands. The first graders reading his speech that they showed on TV were cute and inspirational, however.

I also spent part of the day talking - well, e-mailing - both Capricon and Duckon about panels this week. I love doing panels--you get to talk to all sorts of interesting people that way.

I'll be doing a Rapid Fire Reading with another member of Broad Universe and two guest authors at Capricon, and I need to decide what to read. Any suggestions?

If you'd rather talk about panels--what panels would you like to see at conventions near me? Or anywhere, really, though I'm more likely to turn a panel idea into a real panel at a convention I can afford to attend. But I have friends who are involved in cons I can't get to, so maybe someone else will make your dream panel a reality.

Well, I got one 1700 word story done, to the prompt of Froggy Day. It can be sponsored for $15. I'm pleased with it. Although I know it's important to have quality material for our subscribers to read, I'm hoping it gets sponsored so I can share it with all of you.

Other than that, however, I have several more things started, but am pondering the best way to finish them. It's been a while since I stopped in the middle of so many things and stared at the page.

Some of it might be that I stopped in the middle of getting set up for my new job search to do first sketchfest and then this. Oh, I've already started the search, updating my resumes online and on paper, and started sending them out. But I have a mental list of phone calls to make, letting the agencies I've worked with and people who might refer me to friends and acquaintances know I'm looking, and updating my references, and online networking...enough that it's still active in the back of my brain.

I also need to do some house-related things, including gather. the parts we didn't used to install the new boiler, putting them in a bag with the receipts, and return them. So that's active in the back of my brain too.

And this computer is getting slow as molasses. I probably should restart it.

But I'm not giving up yet!

Anyone have a suggestion about what part of Dini's past they'd like hinted at?

I have a story called Boney Fingers which will appear in the upcoming Magicking in Traffic anthology.

As the story opens, the protagonist is busking in a Chicago subway.

* * *

I will be starting a three-month temp job soon. It's not the permanent job I need, but I'm still excited. It's at a big enough firm that it might lead to something permanent if they like me.

* * *

I got a call from someone who wants to adopt the black kitten. So one of my cuties should be going to his new home after work tomorrow.

* * *

filkart should be here any minute now, so that's all the details you get today.

* * *

The next Torn World Muse Fusion is next Wednesday!

I promised pictures; the kittens have all opened their eyes, and the least chubby are starting to walk around, all splay-legged and wobbly. One even climbed from the seat of the couch up onto the arm.

And they don't sit still for pictures!





























And the Mamacat is getting quite tame, and I think she will soon enjoy having other kitten-tenders around from time to time.  And she's pretty!

In other news, I'm still working the temp job; I had an interview last week but they hired someone else.

And I got some more rejection letters, and sent stories out again.

I got to take my kid "browsing" for a prom dress, too.  I don't believe how much those things cost--but she was sure pretty in the ones she tried on!  She's very private, so I won't post pictures.  But I'm a proud Mama!

And thank you to people who've suggested cool science discoveries of the last year for me!  If anyone else has suggestions, please let me know.  They're all fun to read about, even though they haven't yet sparked a story.  But today's been awfully busy.

And now I should sleep, since the alarm rings early. Sigh.

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!

Thanks to everyone who voted in my poll, or gave me comments!

see the results!


I went to an early-morning networking gathering near my house; didn't find any job leads, but did find a friend I'd lost track of, and get to experience as much of a coffee-cupping as I wanted to (coffee flavor is right up there with liver and brussels sprouts). Then before the snow & cold got bad I went to the bank and grocery store.

I am cutting curtains, which is taking longer than I want it to take, in between writing and reading and other errands. They should be warm, and pretty.

And I got another rejection today. You know, I like the other kind of responses better!

This push to write so much of Clockwork Dragon all at once, while I'm still very much in the world building stage, and really in the exploring stage of so many other aspects of the story is interesting. I can tell it's using a lot of processing time, much of which is in the back of my brain, so it's hard to describe what's going on.

In some ways, it's like the typing sprints when I was learning to type--you go as fast as you can, knowing you're making mistakes, but that it builds muscle and skill. In typing, you alternate this with sessions where you concentrate on making no mistakes, doing everything perfectly, going only as fast as you can go making no mistakes. I guess that's what the rewrite process is for.

But in other ways it's different. A lot of my mind is off in my alternate Chicago, thinking about the things people do and why, of what would drive someone to kidnapping and murder, how people of different ages and backgrounds react and interact, how that would affect their art, their music, their relationships. How the ways the worlds are different affect how things unfold, affect the "color" of the world and the plot, both. And how being not exactly human affects all those things too, in the characters for whom that's an accurate description.

But it's coming together. Not as fast as I want, but I think I'm starting to build momentum. Hopefully, soon I'll be doing more stretches where my fingers are struggling to keep up with my brain.

And maybe I'll be more regular about posting stuff here then, too. I know I thought of something I wanted to talk about earlier, but in this moment, my brain is all wrapped up in and around the story.

Oh--I know one thing I didn't talk about. I had a job interview Friday. It was very short, though I think it went well. It was also informative about the job market. This lawyer told me he had received over 200 resumes, of which 50 were "highly qualified", and he interviewed about half of those. That's consistent with the feedback I've gotten from the other places that have shared that kind of information. There's just not as many job openings as there are qualified applicants. He told me I have high-quality competition, and his decision would be very difficult.

But I meant to write about that Friday night! See what I mean?

As to numbers, I'm up to 35,300+ words, which is 5000 more than yesterday. And I got yet another rejection on a story that I'd really like to see sell, and sent it out again.

So much of this is just keeping on taking the next step, whether that is sending out my resume, or dressing up in the sincere suit for an interview, or submitting a story to another editor, or simply typing the next word--and the next one after that, and the next one after that. And repeat.

And now I think I'll go off and ponder where my kidnapper plans to put the kidnap-ee, especially since the first one didn't cooperate with the plan and stay put. Though that first experience is back story, it still affects the character in question. And, of course, there's the fact that I don't expect this one to cooperate either, so I'll have to ponder those efforts and their consequences too.

See you when I'm back in this space-time continuum!

Today I had a job interview; I won't hear from them for a week at least, since my interview was at the first available slot on the first day of interviews. So now I wait. This job would be problematic since everyone else in the firm has health insurance through a spouse. Hurry up, Congress, and pass real health reform!!!

Yesterday, My Angel and I went to a local graveyard to take pictures. We got there only a little before sunset, but spent a good bit of time wandering around. My Angel got tired of me being somewhere else when she saw a good picture, and took some too. :-D

I'm hoping one will give me good inspiration for a Halloween #fridayflash piece.

Other pictures were taken with Fireborn in mind, or for general Fall color.

Some of the gravestones were quite interesting. This one has some kind of animal; most of the ones that had a little animal on top were lambs, presumably the Lamb of God; this one is obviously very worn, but reminded me of a polar bear more than anything else. No way to be sure, I suppose, after all this time.

And I had to switch to the phone's memory for pictures midway.  I guess I have to dig out the adapter and move all the photos on my phone card.  It's full!  Eep!

I also went and got a new cork board; I gave my old one to my daughter a couple of years ago, since I wasn't using it. Well, I'm trying to keep track of magazines and contests and the like, and while I don't want to duplicate Duotrope on 3x5 cards, there's stuff that is much easier to look at all at once!

I used to have a couple nice rejection letters pinned to the old one; I know I didn't throw them out. When I find them again, I'll re-pin! (And scan.)





I should get back to my sparkly sea-serpent story.  It needs a climax, yet, and an ending, and while I know roughly what those will be, they won't be at all unless I write them.  And it needs a title!

And then, I get to write about the mess Orchid is about to get herself into, though she doesn't know it yet.

Oh, and we now have enough leaves falling to start to mulch the roses.  The leaves are free, which is definitely an advantage.  However, they don't all land piled high around the roses by themselves! 

Busybusy. 

I leave you with a fall colors photo from a shopping trip.



The photo with the gravestone shaped like an arch is by My Angel, the rest are by me.