I've been a busy human, and I've neglected this journal rather a lot. Here are some highlights from the last little while.

• The Dictionary For Dreamers appeared at Diabolical Plots earlier this year.
  
• Borrower appeared at Strange Horizons in July
  
• My goal this year is to double the number of submissions from last year - short fiction and poetry publication is, in large part, a numbers game, and I need to get my stuff out there. Last year I only did 30 submissions. I'm at 38 so far this year, but I can definitely hit 60 before December ends! Just gotta keep at it. I have plenty of finished work - I'm just slow to send it into the world, which means I'm not being paid for it, which isn't so great. The tool I use to track my pieces and submissions is The Submission Grinder, btw. It's free to use, very versatile, and just generally great. I was using Duotrope, but honestly, it's just too expensive considering how low rates are.
  
• I'm still volunteering as a submissions editor for Uncanny Magazine. Which kiiiinda means I also won a hugo this year? Not really, but I do like being associated with such nifty humans and great work. And I enjoy reading slush.
  
• I helped to start a non-profit last year! And we're doing a contest this year! The Dream Foundry is a nonprofit which helps beginners in the speculative arts. Here are the contest guidelines: tada. To sum up though, it's a contest for beginners - if you've been paid professional rates for illustration or short fiction, this contest isn't for you. If you haven't, though, here are the things to know: there's no entry fee, no rights grabs, grand prize is $500, and the top three entrants in both categories will get professional critiques of their work. Deadline is October 13th, so if this sounds like something nifty please do send in a short story and/or a portfolio of your art. And if you have questions, I'm happy to answer. I'm the Secretary for the Dream Foundry and we're small enough yet that even if I can't answer your question it'll probably be really fast for me to talk to someone who can.
  
• I've got my own patreon now! It's right over here. I write new short stories and poems and send them out via snail mail, printed on pretty paper, signed and sealed with a nice wax seal. There's always a letter to my patrons included, and digital copies of the goodies too, so you don't feel obligated to keep More Physical Stuff if you don't want it. I also do media reviews, and post cat pictures.
  
• It's been a hard year in a lot of ways, but I'm doing pretty ok. I'm still writing, still revising, still editing, still making. I'm working on some crafty things for the Dream Foundry's fall auction now. I'm happy it's finally turning autumnal in my part of the world! And I'm looking forward to reading all the new entries that will be popping up on my list due to LJI starting up again. :)
  

I feel a little weird doing this, because I always feel weird promoting stuff I do, but that's no excuse to not do it. A lot of y'all already know about the CC:Otherworlds project I'm working on, but for those of you who don't, read on!

So, a friend and I are doing a nifty project! And since this is my writing journal, and folks reading along here have enjoyed my stories in the past, you may be interested in this.

Claire and I pick a prompt from a silly hat once every two weeks, and then I go forth and write a short story for that prompt. And Claire goes forth and makes a piece of visual art for the prompt. And then we send both of them off to our patrons in the mail! Folks getting physical snail mail get a signed and numbered 5x7 print of the artwork mounted on black backing board with a little blurb on the back, and a signed copy of the story printed on fancy paper and sealed with a nifty wax seal. The envelopes have silly stickers on them, and include a letter to our patrons. Folks who choose digital goodies receive a high quality scan of the art, a formatted copy of the story, and a copy of the patron letter.

Claire and I will be doing this for at least a year. We started on September 1st, and when we've done a year of fortnights, we'll compile our favorite stories and artwork into a book. Along the way, we're producing a LOT of extra content, too. So far, we've each done two process posts per fortnight, talking about what we're working on and how, and our ideas for the various prompts and how we get past various kinds of obstacles. We also make a silly video of pulling the prompt from a hat each time, and another little video and a lot of pictures in a post to say thanks when we're packaging things up to be shipped. So, four process posts on art and writing, two completely unscripted videos, and a bunch of pictures every two weeks. We're considering adding other sizes of artwork (postcards!), and we've got planned a few "intersection" type fortnights where we'll work closely and coordinate the story and artwork so they really go together, instead of just going off and each making a thing separately. We also have a few "extra" stories and art we produced together, to a prompt and on the same schedule, just in case we have a bad fortnight or fall behind for whatever reason.

So far we've released:

• Mute: I wrote a retelling of the Little Mermaid, and Claire painted a sad mute robot
  
• What Hides Beneath: A story in several voices and parts from various monsters hiding beneath various surfaces, and a painting of the thriving life hiding beneath soil
  
• Time Eaters: A time travel story (of course), and a whimsical image of people blowing "time bubbles"
  
• Starfish: A story told in diary format about a girl living inside a giant starfish at the bottom of the ocean, and artwork depicting Frank the goldfish on his journey to the stars.
  

We're working on "flipped" now, and you just know it's going to be good. There are options for digital goodies only, for just stories in the mail, or for just art.

Anywho! That's CC:Otherworlds! That's taking up a lot of my mental bandwidth - I'm doing this on top of my normal writing and submissions, slush reading, and Real Life Non-Creative stuff. It's been wonderful so far, and I'm having a lot of fun with it. I'm pretty bad about getting the word out (I've never been really good at this "self promotion" stuff), but here we are. I hope you'll check it out. :)

Posted on Dreamwidth and Livejournal, hither and yon. comments over that-a-way. Comment anywhere you like.

Beep! Boop! Welcome to The Story Machine. The current theme of The Story Machine is “Game Night Gone Wrong.”

The Story Machine is pleased to offer a wide variety of tasty bite-sized stories. Please choose from the following selections:

A story involving:

1. American Football
   
2. Roleplaying
   
3. Board games
   
4. Card games
   
5. A silly internet writing contest

Posted on Dreamwidth and Livejournal, hither and yon. comments over that-a-way. Comment anywhere you like.

What is it? Sign up, and get a name and address. Then send a used book to them in the mail, and receive something yourself!

Who is it for? Current or former (and former can be very former indeed) participants in therealljidol.

Why? Because stories are neat! Because we just made it to the top 50 contestants in this crazy super-long thing, and getting something tangible in the mail is also neat. Because we can! Because why not?

What kind of books? Used ones. Don't go out buying a new book for this (I mean, unless you really want to? I'm not the boss of you). Just grab something laying around your house and send it off. It should still be in, you know, decent enough condition to read. I expect most of us are going to be sending paperbacks, because that's cheap, but if you want to pop a hardcover book in the mail to someone, go right ahead. Fiction, nonfiction, pop-up books, whatever. There's no guarantee you'll get something you'll like, but hey, books! Books are neat. And if you really don't like it, you can pass it on.

I'm not sure I want to do this. How long do I have to decide? The sign-up sheet/poll thingy will be open for a week, until November 27th. After that, you've got two weeks to get your book in the mail. It should be sent off by December 11th. I'll ask that you send me a little note when you've put it in the mail, just so I know it's been done and can cross you off my little list.

Is is secret? Not particularly. I'll match folks up and let you know who you're sending to - feel free to get in touch with that person to ask them "hey, do you already have this book?" or whatever. You can be all sneaky about it if you like? But it's not required.

Is it safe? Yeah, pretty much. If you choose to sign up, there will be two people who have your mailing address: me and the person sending you a book. If there are specific people you don't want sending stuff to you or having your details, just let me know ahead of time. And as for the book you get in the mail, well, books are dangerous and wonderful things. Use with caution and try not to destroy any worlds.

If you have any other questions, you can feel free to ask me in comments (I'm pretty much guaranteed to have forgotten something).

Sound interesting and possibly fun? Ok then! Here we go!

What is it? A small postal gift exchange, done Secret Santa style! You sign up here, I match you with another person, and you send and receive goodies in the mail.

Why? Because getting nice stuff in the mail is a pleasant experience. Because sending surprise gifts to other people is fun. Because it's a fun way to build connections in the community. And because I want to.

Who can play? I've named it the totally unofficial LJ Idol summer gift exchange, but that "totally unoffocial" part also means that pretty much anyone can sign up and play. I'm going to be somewhat arbitrary and say that you should be a member of therealljidol to play, this time. There will be other iterations of this (presuming it doesn't lead to terrrrrible things, angst, and woe). I've run gift exchanges before, and I'll do so again. It's fun. But for now, be something to do with LJ Idol, and you're in.

What kind of gifts in the mail? Inexpensive ones! Again, being completely arbitrary, I'm setting the limit for gifts at $10. You can definitely spend less than that. You can make stuff yourself. You can send used books. You can send mixed CDs. You can send almost anything which you think your recipient will really like, so long as the cost is under $10.

How will this work? It's pretty easy. You sign up and give me a couple pertinent bits of information about yourself. I'll make a big list of all the participants at the bottom of this post and keep it updated. Once sign-ups are over, I send an email to you with the user name, mailing address, and any other relevant details about the person you're assigned to make happy with mailed goodies. You acquire and mail goodies, and receive goodies from another person, in a timely fashion. Tada!

Who will know my mailing address? Me, and the person I match you up with. And you, presumably. I mean, maybe you block it out to keep the information on the whereabouts of your secret lair safe and unknowable, but I think that would cause logistical difficulties. And I promise I won't send ninjas to your lair. I mean, unless you're matched with me for getting gifts, in which case, mwahahahaha and all that.

Can I participate if I live somewhere outside the U.S.? Sure. Just keep in mind that a) most of the participants are probably going to be in the states, and b) shipping costs will be higher for folks, both to and from your location. It'll also take a bit longer to get your stuff to you.

How long will sign-ups be open? Sign-ups will be closed next Tuesday, July 1st. Everyone who has signed up will receive the name and address of their intended gift recipient by next Wednesday, July 2nd. So you've got a bit to dither if you're not sure about any of this.

How long will I have to get my stuff in the mail? Your things should be in the mail by August 2nd. You'll have a full month to acquire and send off your loot.

How will you be choosing who gets matched with whom? It'll be random, but narrowed down by some criteria (like, if you're not in the U.S., I'm only going to be matching you with people who are cool with mailing stuff overseas). And if there's an uneven number of people or the math otherwise doesn't work out, I'll take up the slack.

I have other questions! Also, opinions! This is what comments are for. Also, updating this page as I figure out more stuff I need to say. Whee? I'll try to be responsive to questions and concerns.

Sounds awesome. How do I sign up? That's simple. Send an email to lrig.rorrim at gmail.com with the subject line "Summer Gift Exchange Sign-up" and containing the following information:
1. Your full mailing address
2. Your preferred email address
3. Your user name (just in case it's not obvious to me from your email)
4. Whether you're able to mail stuff outside the U.S.
5. Any details about yourself that wouldn't be easily gleaned from your profile page (if you really don't want baked goods because you're diabetic, any allergies, strong preferences for or against a certain kind of gift, favorite color, whatever you want your gift giver to know)

~~~
Participants:
lrig_rorrim
kickthehobbit
roina_arwen
kajel
rswndrlst
reckless_blues
eska818
n3m3sis43
x_disturbed_x
beeker121
labelleizzy
banyangirl1832
tjatorra
adoptedwriter

~~~
note: You should get an email from me within a day (usually much quicker, but there will be some traveling this week) to let you know I got your sign-up, and then you'll appear on the list here. If you don't get that email, feel free to poke me here in comments to make sure I haven't missed it or sorted it into the wrong place somehow.

It’s time for the Annual Games again, time to choose a new Narrator for the Ship of Stories. The Archetypes are all out of their halls and mingling here in the lobby, waiting for the stages to be set in the different story rooms, the choices to be made. You know your task: to earn as many points by the end of your story arc as possible while searching for the Perspex Gem. It is the tool with which The Narrator steers the ship, directs the stories, and sets the tone for all the travelers and archetypes aboard. Your fellow travelers have mostly already chosen their vessels for the game, and only a few options remain to you. You’re sure you could win with any of them, though. Perspective and Narration could be yours soon! Who will you be?

[The Princess] The Princess has far more than nobility of birth going for her; it takes some serious dedication and strength to endure all that the various (and nefarious) Narrators have inflicted on her through the ages. Nobody ever claims it will be easy being The Princess - you might be called on to silently weave shirts of nettles for seven years, or be harangued constantly by The Wicked Stepmother - but The Narrator is sure to come up with a classic story arc for you, and you can think of lots of ways to earn points in this role.

* Click here to play as The Princess

[The Mad Scientist] Yes, yesssss! Who better to determine the tone and set the course for the Ship of Stories than a scientist gleefully creating monstrosities and twisting the forces of nature to do his bidding?! Nothing shall stand in the way of your SCIENCE!

* Click here to play as The Mad Scientist

[The Detective] What we have here is a real mystery, and it’s going to take some serious brainwork to figure this out. A sharp mind, keen observational skills, and a penchant for addictive substances are all sure to work in your favor.

Click here to play as The Detective

Every day after Michael left for work, Eve went about the business of taking herself apart. She did it in the basement, so the mess would be easier to clean up. Sitting at her workbench, she had a system for where everything should go. There was a magnetized strip for all the little tiny screws, and labeled mason jars for transistors and servo motors. Her few remaining organic parts went into the appropriate fluid-filled containers, which were then tucked into the fridge.

After a point, she put her mind into the computer and ran the whole lab from there. The helper bots and automated systems ran as background processes, a carefully choreographed dance of machinery dismantling and putting away her pieces while she supervised. The maintenance kept her synth-skin perfect and clear, the manufactured musculature stretched for ideal flexibility over her frame, and her joints supple and well-oiled.

And, of course, she had to step out of the body to do the upgrades.

Before the accident, she’d worked as a designer for SynthMate, setting the trends for made-to-order partners. She knew how important it was to stay fresh, to stay new. There was always a newer model out there, so the upgrade cycle had to be constant to keep up with the competition.

She was absolutely certain the same principles applied to the SecondBody line of products. She wouldn’t get caught in that trap. Almost every day she changed tiny aspects of her hair, her body composition, or her eye color. There was always a little something new to discover. She kept a meticulous log of which changes Michael noticed and seemed to like the best.

The most important part of the whole routine, though, were the mental edits.

While her body was being polished, cleaned, tweaked, and oiled, she navigated the maze of her own cognition. Eve had never used the mental editor on herself before the accident, though now she couldn’t imagine why. She spent the better part of every day making improvements to her mind, seeking out optimal solutions to the problems of being Eve.

She no longer felt physical pain at all, having opted for damage alerts instead. She’d drastically reduced her desire for physical touch after Michael complained once that she was being clingy. Her professional ambition had proven something of a challenge, but she’d managed to push it down and override it with an algorithm of complacency that she hoped would suit Michael better. She’d increased her interest in historical fiction, so she and Michael would have more to talk about, and deleted her own taste for pulp mysteries.

Still, it never seemed to be enough.

She was working on improving her conversational routines - she was still far too awkward, too stilted - when she heard the basement door open. “Eve, honey, are you down there?”

Michael was home early. Already in the editing suite, she deleted her mental panic and suffused herself with calm. Her voice wouldn’t sound right, but that couldn’t be helped. From the laboratory speakers, she said “Yes. I’m in maintenance right now, though. You don’t want to see me like this. I’ll finish soon and come upstairs.”

“I’ll come down” he said, and she heard him walking down the stairs. Her visual systems were offline, as she didn’t really need them during this part of the cycle; Eve felt a surge of sadness that he should see her like this, and that she couldn’t see him at all. She was toying with the idea of deleting that emotion and all its associated feelings too, when he spoke again.

“Eve… we need to talk.”

She knew her laughter would sound creepy through the speakers, so she didn’t laugh. “Nothing good starts that way.” She knew what was coming, though she’d worked so hard to avoid it. It really was inevitable. Why should a brilliant man like him want to stay with her, especially after what had happened? “You want to leave, don’t you?”

He sighed. “No, Eve, I’m not leaving you. Do you remember in the hospital, the promise I made?”

“That was then. You didn’t know it would be like this. You deserve -“

He cut her off. “Oh be quiet, would you?” There was a pause, and she counted his breaths. “I’m sorry. This just isn’t easy for me. Eve, I told you I wouldn’t leave you, and I meant it. I just wish…”

“What? What do you wish?” She felt like every part of her - cooling in the fridge, scattered in jars and storage bins, thrumming between electrons - stood on edge waiting for his answer.

“I just wish you hadn’t left me.”

“Do you mean the body? I can…”

“Eve, when was it ever about that? Come on. Listen to me, please? You’ve been down here for months, editing yourself, changing your personality. You always were so critical of yourself. You’ve been cutting out the heart of who you are in some misguided attempt to be more of what I want. We keep doing this, over and over.”

Eve felt dismay rising, but couldn’t find it in herself to delete it. What was the point?

“The truth is, you’ve been fixated on a relationship with someone else for quite a while now. Unfortunately, he’s a jerk.”

“What are you talking about, Michael? I would never -“

“Oh yes you would, and you have. His name is also Michael, but he isn’t me. He’s a construct, far more than you are. And I’m tired of it, Eve. I’m tired of being the focus for your insecurities, of seeing you destroy yourself time and time again.”

Confused, she heard him moving slightly. “I have your backup here. I hate having to do this, but you’re not who you were anymore.”

She heard something click, a small and final sort of sound, and she felt control of the system slip away from her. Something strange was happening. Was she falling? No, she had to get out of the lab. The fire! Quickly, before it spread! Her memories shifted and Eve felt a profound sense of deja vu and a flood of intense emotions.

There, there was Michael’s voice. She should move toward him, if she could figure out how. He was speaking so quietly.

“I’ll tell you what I want. I want you back. And I want to never have to go through this process again. But I’ll do what it takes to help you… and I’m not going to throw away parts of you just to make this easier, even if you will.”
~~~
If you enjoyed this story, you can vote for it here. Thank you!

Posted on Dreamwidth and Livejournal, hither and yon. comments over that-a-way. Comment anywhere you like.

I attended WisCon this year, and participated in their first ever Spontaneous Writing Contest. The idea was pretty simple - you show up at a certain place at a certain time and receive a thumb drive with a snippet of dialogue on it. Incorporating that dialogue, you write a story, and then return it on the thumb drive within an hour. There were (I think) seven or eight of us competing. This is the story I wrote for the contest, and which won first place! The dialogue up through "What's that now?" was the bit provided to us. The rest is mine.

~~~
Blips

“Picking anything up yet?”

“Nothing human. Coupla cats.”

“How do you know they’re cats?”

“How do you know they’re cats? If it looks like a cat and meows like a cat, it’s a cat. These guys think like cats.”

“And different from dogs, yeah?”

“Just like the difference between red and blue. Besides, they’re both normally like, uh, I dunno, a soft glow ... until something lights ’em up. But it takes different things to do it. Cats light up when they see some kind of small critter they can chase, but dogs only do it for people. In f.... Oh, wait! What’s that now?”

Patrick turned a dial and the scanner focused in on a bright green light in the upper quadrant. "That's no cat. See the size of it? And the color's all wrong too."

Felicity glanced down at the laminated blip guide in her lap. "So, a human then? The color's right for that."

Her instructor shook his head. "Noooo... I don't think so. The color is right, but there wasn't anything there a second ago. We were sweeping this neighborhood specifically because there's been no human activity here in years. And it just shows up out of nowhere? Suspicious." He tapped the screen as the green dot winked out and then reappeared three centimeters to the left. "Look at that! Yeah, this is definitely fey activity." He turned and smiled wryly at Felicity. "I don't know about you, but I can't teleport, even for short distances."

"Are you sure it wasn't just scanner error? I mean, just yesterday you were telling me the equipment does that sometimes - picks up and then loses the mental signatures, especially if they're not neuro-typical."

"Oh, I'm sure all right. We sometimes drop animal signals, but that's no cat. This one's been consistently bright, and the same shape the whole time. Color's off, but I'm calling it." He leaned over, jotted something on a clipboard, and then passed it to Felicity. "You start the paperwork, and I'll call in the containment team. We'll have it bagged, sterilized, and magic drained within an hour."

Ten minutes later, though, and Patrick was in a heated argument with the containment team. "What do you mean there's only cats down there? There were plenty of cat signals, and this one definitely wasn't a cat. You sure your guys have got their glamour protection gear on? We gave you exact coordinates! I'm looking at it... well, no. But I'm telling you, it was there! Size, shape, motility, everything!"

Felicity shifted awkwardly in the stiff plastic chair as the call went on and on, watching the blips light up the screen. She squinted to make a fuzzy, colorful constellation of the minds moving in and out of the area. She didn't envy the containment team - it was pretty desolate down there. The Fey wars hadn't been kind to the suburbs, and just making their way in past the walls of thorns and quicksand driveways would have been very difficult, especially in the anti-magic protective gear.

When he finally turned his attention back to work, Patrick was more deflated than angry. "Well, so much for that. False alarm. Somehow." He scowled. "Anyway, let's go over to the mall. We've got a good chance of finding a nest over there, and I really want to bag a few today." He started steering the hovership to the north.

She looked up, surprised. "You don't want to get the gear checked and recalibrated? Besides, I thought Jacobs was already sweeping the mall today."

"Is she? I thought we were leaving that for Thursday..."

"And if I recall last week's training, getting ahead of schedule is not generally a good idea. Especially if the containment team is... well, busy. They're going to be a while getting out of that mess, yeah?"

Patrick sighed. "Yeah, you're right. You, uh, passed the test. Or something. Fine. Let's get back to base and grab a bite to eat while the techs check out our gear. We'll talk with dispatch about sweeping a different area today, since this one was obviously a bust. Sorry 'bout this. I really thought we'd bag your first fairy today!"

She smiled. "Hey, don't worry about it. We'll get them all eventually, right?"

"That's the plan" he said, as he turned the ship back to the south again.

Felicity turned her attention back to fixing their daily paperwork. It was a tedious, but necessary part of her cover. Diligent, a stickler for the rules, a bit green (so to speak, both on the scanner and off), this 'trainee' persona had proven most useful for infiltration. She was in a perfect position to learn about the enemy, warn her people, and do the kind of detail work at which she excelled.

It had only taken a sufficiently odd Fey mind to slip past their security screenings. Really, the humans relied far too much on outdated research and a very basic misconception. Not everyone thinks alike, and minds can change their colors. And of course, the cats were on her side.

Posted on Dreamwidth and Livejournal, hither and yon. comments over that-a-way. Comment anywhere you like.

The deadline for LJI entries has been extended until Monday, May 20th, at 8 p.m. eastern. Pass it on.

Letter in a bottle discovered on the shore of a sea of trees in North Carolina, USA

Greetings fellow traveler, adventurer, wanderer, explorer! If your eyes are passing across this missive, then I have achieved my goal and made contact with another beyond these shores where I find myself. I have no doubt you are an intrepid soul - it takes a certain yearning spirit to read a letter sealed in a bottle, after all.

The first, and most sensible question you may ask is this: who am I? I am like you, an explorer of the heart, seeking and finding connection wherever I may. Honestly, though, who I am is far less interesting than where I am. Let me tell you about this marvelous world I find myself in.

When my heartship crashed here, I knew I had found something special, something unique. The high mountain peaks are glorious, and the valleys are sublime. It is truly a picturesque place, full of beauty. I am impressed with how deeply alive everything is. Though I have not been here long, I feel welcomed and loved, and I know there is so much to explore.

Make no mistake, though. This land can be very dark. Even in those shadowy places, though, there is beauty, a thrill that reminds you of what it is to be human, to be alive.

And this is the part that I love the best! I hope you will believe me, fellow adventurer, for this is an extraordinary claim: there are words here, everywhere, a lyrical music that fills the heart! The waters whisper with insistent rhythm, the clouds form sentences, the world echoes with stories. Here I am enveloped in language, living within words. It is amazing, and I am amazed. If I can share even a fraction of my wonder, then this missive has been a success.

I invite you, fellow traveler, to visit this marvelous place. Set foot on these shores, and perhaps you will see yourself in the rippled reflections of the whispering waters. Perhaps you will consider something different from the perspective of these forested hills. Step near the heart, and I doubt you will want to walk away.

Perhaps I will yet see you here, and perhaps you will meet and come to know the living spirit of this place, as I have.

~~~
I hope this will serve well to introduce my dear friend, medleymisty. I invite you to explore her world, her mind, her words, and get to know her yourself. It is an adventure worth having, I assure you.