Please note that the black thing at high right-center is Lore's leg. She snapped this mobilely with the cat on her lap, and books where the cat should be. If she'd sat at the desk, the image would've been almost the same, perhaps sans leg. Maybe. Also, the circular blob up-center is the kitty's bed, which she refuses to sleep in when there is a human about.
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We're both having good and bad winters. Bad for personal reasons, and good for Lore! She has one short story up at the lovely Hyacinth Noir!
Hyacinth Noir | Imbolc Issue | The Willow and the Dove
Lore's been the busy one. She had four submissions, three of them already in and done with (and pending), and one of them she hasn't sent in yet. I've had only two submissions so far this year, and one rejection notice for one of the two submissions. Lore found it in our joint Inbox when she was sending out a new submission. ("Could that be one of the elusive definitions of irony?") One of my friends was like, "Wow, so proud of you, sending out something even though you got a rejection notice!" But I told her that rejections are just a part of my everyday (well, maybe not everyday) life. Then I cite all the famous authors who faced numerous rejections before anyone even glanced at their manuscripts...
I have one submission up and coming, due April 1. I spent many days and eleven thousand words working on a story that I suddenly deemed "too long" for the submission. It would've been 17,000 or so words before it was complete. It's now in the "pending expansion into a novel" pile (which I invented just now), and I started a new, shorter story that has a couple of the elements of the scrapped one. I have less than a week to get it finished, looked at by my reader, and sent in. No problem.... really.
Depending on how things go, I might take off the entire month of April. Not write anything. I'm not sure what Lore will work on, if applicable. We might just potter about the garden.
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In addition to studying French, Lore's been reading Mary Hunter Austin. I read a little bit of it myself, and it's luscious and potent. It stings me. Lore likes wordsmiths who sculpt daggers. Anything she can learn from is good for her. I prefer more entertainment value, but that's me. I've been reading The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. Haven't read any Holmes stories since I was about nine. I didn't know what half the words meant, but it was Sherlock Holmes and that was enough! Both of us were dismayed to discover the lack of Noel Coward plays in our local library system. We bought a couple volumes (put out by Methuem at Coward's birth centennial) and have been enjoying them when our brains need downtime — and that's often.
Musically, I am getting into Secret Garden and Green Sun. Lore discovered trance-rockin' Aussie Emma Hewitt. Can't say I blame her. It's nice to have something other than Adam Lambert's Tresspassing album to listen to while I'm fixing dinner. Not that there's anything wrong with that album, I love it, it's now in the top ten of my favorite albums of all time. But expanding horizons cannot be bad, especially when it comes to music. Lore's purchased Spirit of the Celtic Violin by Arlene Faith. She doesn't appear to have a website (good for her! wish I didn't feel pressured to have one), but here's a song of hers on You Tube.
= We're planning to wear red on March 26th. See why, though neither of us looks good in red. Unfortunately, it's a Tuesday, and I won't be doing much of anything Tuesday, especially if we're still snowed in.
= Cheers to Ohio Senator Robert Portman (R) for changing his mind about equal marriage.
= Things are looking better for our home state: Ohio Views of Marriage Shift. A big deal for a state that supported DOMA less than a decade before.
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