The State of the Meerkat

I've been sort of slapdash here lately -- blame Twitter/Facebook, where it's less guilt-inducing to show up for a line of pithy (or would-be pithy) commentary and then disappear again. I feel like I owe LJ more detailed postings, and I've just not had the brain for it.

Mainly, life has been sucked up by some changes in my personal life, planning for the California trip, the Dublin trip in March, and oh yeah, the writing.

The workload, as it looks from the desk right now:

All extant short stories go out this weekend. Bye bye little stories! Write if you get work!
Pack of Lies -- revisions done and accepted.
Vineart War #2 -- Part 1 revised, part 2 on deck for the weekend. Due 10/15. Um...
Mustang -- revisions due November
Bonnie #3 -- waiting for final approval of outline, need to start writing ASAP
Outline of Vineart 3: um, yeah. Soonish. Yeah.
Vineart 3: not due until next year, thank god.
Werewolf short story -- needs to be done by December. I'm on that, yah.

And then I'm out from under contract. I am trying really hard not to freak out about that. How's that working for me? not so good, no. Mind you, I know what I want to write next -- Retrievers 7, plus a new Cosa Nostradamus novel, and I have another story in the Vineart universe I'd love to tell, and there's a historical Americana project I'm hoping an editor will adore, and... but right now it's all in that lovely 'holding pattern' that gives writers ulcers.

I keep thinking I should post about that, or about the frustrations of having a bunch of revisions and no new-writing, or even the sort of research I've been doing on Vineart 2, which is leading me to all sorts of stuff I never knew I needed to know... and then I get swamped and my brain crackles, and I post picspam and concert reports instead. For the three of you who come here for actual writing content, I do apologize.


And political ranting. God, there's a whole cargo of that piling up but... I just don't have the energy. But there is one thing I should probably address:

Some of you have noted that I haven't posted here about the Polanski arrest and the pro-Polanski petition. Honestly, I didn't think I had to. If you know me at all you know that I have very strong opinions about both rape (date rape, statutory rape, stranger-rape, or Whoopi's "rape-rape" whatever the fuck that means) and about child abuse. Those feeling are along the lines of "flay him skinless, and then dunk him in salt water." Also: federal fugitive. Shut up and take the repercussions you've been dodging for decades.

And my feelings about those who are apologizing for Polanski, and signing petitions to protest how good a man he is? Disgust, and disappointment, mainly. You can try to separate a person's politics from their performance, but that stepped over a line I'm not able to ignore.

However, I am informed that some of Hollywood has had enough, as well: http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/ebernero/2009/10/02/polanski-apologists-dont-speak-for-all-of-us-in-hollywood/ Yay Ed!


And now my single, medically-allowed mug of coffee is ready, and I have to get work done if I want to escape this desk at all this weekend...

Frustration of the Week:

GoodReads won't let me "claim" my author status as it says I do not have same first name as author Laura Anne Gilman.

They fixed it by changing my account to "Laura Gilman."

Um...


(guys? it's really not polite to tell someone what they should be called, when they've already informed you of their preference, both personal and professional. You didn't change the name on my book listings, so why did you change my account?)


But, anyway. I am now up on GoodReads. I suppose I should start listing my TBR pile? (that, um, could take a while.)