gwynnega

I'm hennaing my hair on a mild Los Angeles afternoon. I'm overdue for a haircut, and the length of my hair makes hennaing unwieldy, but now that the weather has finally cooled off, I'm enjoying having long hair. We've had apocalyptic wildfires, followed by a bit of rain. This weekend I polished off my portion of the leftovers (following a lovely Thanksgiving dinner with my mom).

I've been enjoying the second volume of Sylvia Plath's collected letters, and (very slowly) Sylvia Townsend Warner & William Maxwell's letters to each other. I may take a break from these to read some crime novels I have on my tablet.

There were some definite highs and lows to my 2013, but overall it was an excellent year.

I had three poems published:

"Ginnie and the Cooking Contest" (a prose poem) in Interfictions Online, Issue 1, May 2013

"take off your horn-rims and fly" in Flying Higher: An Anthology of Superhero Poetry

"a tipping point" in The Cascadia Subduction Zone, Vol. 3, No. 4 (Fall 2013).

I started the year revising Out of Uniform (a novel I hope to get back to in 2014) and writing a sekrit project. Then when I received my agent's notes on Can't Find My Way Home (AKA the Jo book, AKA the book that would not die), I dove back into work on it. I'd hoped to have that done by the end of this year, but I am getting there. I've also been writing more poetry this year, which pleases me.

Healthwise, I'm still in physical therapy for an issue that's been causing me chronic pain. I'm a lot better, though it continues to be a frustrating situation. On the bright side, my physical therapist is a genius, and part of my treatment includes one-on-one yoga instruction, which is awesome. Also on the bright side, I was able to attend WisCon and Readercon (which I also plan to do in 2014).

Scott Miller died this year, and although we were only slight acquaintances, his death had a huge impact on me and others who love his music and his writing.

For me this has been a year rich in friendships--not only continued friendships, but also new ones and renewed ones. I'm so grateful for the many amazing people in my life.

I wish you all a very happy new year.

It is Henna Day, on a pleasantly warm LA December day. I have a neck ache, but the cool henna on my head seems to be helping.

Apparently I haven't posted on LJ since last Henna Day. Last time, Doris Lessing had just died, and now it's Peter O'Toole, who I adored.

Last night I went to a lovely holiday party at Carolyn and Dave's house. Their cat Nora dealt fairly well with her house being full of people.

Here is a link to a gorgeous song about infinity that my friend Steve Gregoropoulos wrote and performed:

Infinity

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...but all in all, I'd call my 2012 a good year.

I only had two publications this year, but I'm very pleased with them:

"bell, book, candle" in Strange Horizons, 26 March 2012.

"The Pied Piper vs. The Sirens" in Mythic Delirium #27, November 2012.

I didn't write a whole lot of poetry this year (and no short fiction at all, I think?), as this was The Year of Finishing the Draft of the Jo Book. It took somewhat longer than I'd expected, but writing this draft was one of the greatest and most challenging experiences of my writing life.

I got sick this summer and had a couple of miserable months until I got diagnosed and started physical therapy. I'm still not entirely recovered, but I'm so much better (to the point that I can't fully remember how bad I felt last summer).

Tonight I'll be doing my usual new year's celebration: champagne, caviar and other goodies, and DVDs.

A very happy new year to you all!

This evening I went to my mom's for Thanksgiving dinner: turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, yam souffle, cranberry sauce, green beans with chestnuts, and pumpkin pie.

A happy Thanksgiving to all of you who celebrate.

My vacation has, as usual, flown by. I didn't do everything I'd wanted to, but I got to see friends and my mom, went to a couple of movies, worked on the Jo book, and caught up on my sleep to a ridiculous extent. Tonight I will have my customary new year's eve with champagne, caviar and other goodies.

2011 was mostly a good year for me, though it started badly with the death of the Garage Kitty. I had hoped to finish the Jo book this year, but the reason it's not quite done is that a few months ago I figured out a missing component to make it awesome. I managed to finish a short story, which is out on submission. Wrote a few poems, and sold two to Strange Horizons, which makes me very happy. Went to WisCon, Readercon, and World Fantasy, which were all a lot of fun.

In the coming year I expect to finish the Jo book, get started on other fiction projects, write more poems. I plan to go to WisCon and Readercon, and possibly Worldcon.

I'd like to read more in 2012. I'd also like to have more of a social life (in spite of the dayjob)...though I suspect I say that every year!

A very happy new year, everyone!

There's so much that I want to do on my holiday break, I've barely known where to start. (Though I have, of course, been working on the Jo book, watching soaps, etc.) Yesterday I had lunch with tesserae_ at Say Cheese (which was quite good, though I'm still missing the Coffee Table), and she gave me some awesome mince cookies.

Today I went to see the new Sherlock Holmes film, which I enjoyed a lot--even more than the first one, I think. I had a quibble or two with this one, but it felt like they remembered to include an actual story this time. (Though with the first film, I was happy enough to watch Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law sans story.) Since I saw the movie at the Los Feliz Theater, I stopped in at Skylight Books and said hi to Cecil Castellucci, who was wrapping gifts. I hadn't planned to buy anything, but the place was freshly stocked with new books about the 1970s, and I could not resist! So I purchased When We Were Outlaws by Jeanne Cordova (a memoir of an activist "fighting at the intersections of the struggle for Gay Rights, Women's Liberation, and the New Left") and Those Girls: Single Women in Sixties and Seventies Popular Culture.

A little while ago I watched Miracle on 34th Street on TCM and finished wrapping presents. I think later I will watch The Bishop's Wife. Tomorrow I'll go to my mom's for dinner.

Happy holidays, everyone!

I've been having a nice quiet holiday weekend (aside from some fireworks exploding in the distance). I had brunch with tesserae_ at the Coffee Table yesterday, and I've been working on the Jo book and the imaginary friend story, lying around reading, etc.

I'm continuing to enjoy the hell out of my Dark Shadows rewatch. I've just finished the 1795 flashback episodes, and now Barnabas has put the bite on Vicki Winters to try to put her under his thrall and get her to forget everything that happened when she was time-travelling. It doesn't work, however, and in an episode written by the awesome Sam Hall, Barnabas summons his cousin Carolyn (who is under his power) away from her date with Tony.

Barnabas: Comfort me.

Carolyn: [lets Barnabas bite her neck]

Tony: [aghast, watching at the window]

Then, in the next scene, Tony confronts Carolyn, thinking he saw Barnabas kiss her neck.

Carolyn: No, it isn't like that!

Tony: Then you're in love with him?

Carolyn: He's my cousin!

Tony: Well, I'd always heard the idle rich were decadent.

Gwynne: Pretty racy for 1968!

My vacation week is flying by. I've been noveling (and poeming), reading The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, watching wonderful Ryan's Hope (1975) reruns on SOAPnet, feeding the Garage Kitty (she's been a bit finicky lately--I think the cold weather has intermittently interfered with her ability to smell food), etc. Yesterday I saw the Eva Hesse paintings exhibit at the Hammer, which I was glad to get to before it closes.

Last night HBO showed the 1976 remake of Dark Victory, starring Elizabeth Montgomery and Anthony Hopkins--a TV movie I adored as a pre-teen and which I wish were on DVD (or even on YouTube). I think it may have been the first thing I ever saw Hopkins in (or was it Magic?), though I was of course already a massive Montgomery fan.

Today I went to Whole Foods to get caviar and other goodies for my traditional new-year's-eve-with-DVDs celebration. I haven't decided yet what I'm gonna watch, though...

From tithenai:



Happy Solstice! Here in LA it is still Freaking Raining. (But it's supposed to stop after tomorrow, and my windows haven't leaked any more since Saturday night.) The Garage Kitty is, I think, wondering if the sun will ever come out again.

I just wrote a poem. Yay.