Journal

Tuesday, March 6, 2001
 

Milestones and good news...

I have been accepted to Clarion West, so I'll be in Seattle this summer. On the same day I got the acceptance, I achieved my target of 100 Clarion points. Which is almost spooky.

I sold a poem, "A Gardener Betrayed By Roses", to Strange Horizons. That's my first poetry sale. It was also the first time an editor asked me for revisions; she basically rewrote the last line for me, and hers is better, I think. 

I got an Alas-less rejection from GVG! In email! Five days after I sent the manuscript by air mail from Switzerland. He writes of "The Death Trap of Dr. Freezo" that it's funny ("the comic material... is great"), but that he's published "several stories in the past few years updating superheroes" and that "there isn't enough plot or character development in this one." Fair enough, but I think it's as long as it can be, given what it is. I think it goes to a cluster of literary markets that take simultaneous submissions next -- Glimmer Train, Ploughshares, Zoetrope...

And finally, "The Ant King" is finally scheduled. It will be out in F&SF in July.

Finally, I have caved in in the face of massive grandparental nagging (from my parents) and uploaded pictures of Aviva from my camera. The girl is smiling up a storm lately. One of her names is Smilebox. Another one is Snorgleborg Spitfactory, because she enjoys nothing more than producing copious quantities of saliva bubbles while making burbling noises. She also, as previously mentioned, lieks gnawing on her hand. And dancing on the floor. She has a greater and greater emotional range; in the morning she is usually very happy, particularly if someone is talking to her; in the evening she gets tried and very cranky, and there is only one way for her Daddy (who has no breasts) to calm her down: cradling her prone on his forearm, constantly running the water in the bathroom, standing in front of the mirror and singing innumerable choruses of the dark lullaby "Simmeliberg". She really likes this. Esther thinks she looks like me in this one.

The Little Weasel has had lots of visitors lately. First our friend Terri came from America, bringing with her a frighteningly bizarre but very effective toy thing. Nik also came to visit. So did Räggi, who is here playing with Aviva in the kitchen while Bonbo the dragon, having flown in from the other room, circles jealously around their heads. Here she is with her cousin Seraphina. Aviva looks like a demon child in these two pictures, but that's just the light. Really. Her DNA are fine.