I'm late to the party on this one, but I thought you might like, Tom's Glossary of Book Publishing Terms.

My favorites:

FOREIGN MARKET: The part of the country outside New York City.

OPTION CLAUSE/RIGHT OF FIRST REFUSAL: Motivational fiction.

TRADE PAPERBACKS: What readers do instead of purchasing new books.

Hurry up and wait.

*sigh*

I'm sure this waiting thingy isn't anything new to my writer friends. But there are some things out there - jobs, etc. -- and basically, I'm ready NOW!!!

They don't teach this in schools. (And I never majored in patience.) I'm sure I would have remembered...

It is lotusice 's birthday. We celebrate, yes we do! *confetti*

Life consists not in holding good cards
but in playing those you hold well. - Josh Billings

Happy Birthday!

They say if someone wants to get a sense of who you are, they should look at your friends first.  Or at least their birthday cards:


Evidence the first:   Front cover - Buzzards hanging off every branch of a gray, denuded tree.  Inside caption - "Whatever you decide to do on your birthday...just keep moving."

Evidence the second:   Front cover - Birthday cakes, presents and balloons with the caption, "29 Again?"  Inside caption - "Hey, I know people are into recycling, but aren't you going a little bit far?"
 

Evidence the third:   Front cover - Two women drinking coffee and eating cake. Caption, "Only the good die young"  Inside caption - "We bitches live forever."

Yup. Pretty much sums it up. Thanks for the b-day wishes (and the virtual flowers! No watering - happy camper! -->. :) )

Also, I leave you with some George Carlin:

Life's journey is not to arrive at the grave safely in a well preserved body,
but rather to skid in sideways, totally worn out, shouting, "Holy sh*t ....what a ride!"

Amen.

I forgot it was Halloween tonight. 

Think I'll stick a "Closed Until Further Notice" sign around my neck and my arm in a sling and go as the Bay Bridge.

I'd first typed in the subject line: WFC ho! Hmmm. Not quite the context I knew as a kid.

Anyway, looks like I'm heading out there on Saturday night to spend a bleeding fortune on hotel parking and generally hang out you-know-where.  I'm meeting up with msisolak - hopefully, I'll bump into stillsostrange and the rest of you.

Thank goodness my drive doesn't include a bridge. Ho!

*grin*

I have to head into the city (the city being SF) for a shindig. What with the Bay Bridge being closed because of those two snapped rods, I don't want to go anymore. I can take the San Mateo bridge, but the traffic is still very, slllooooow and everything's going to be clogged up for awhile. Also, why are they just doing an emergency repair on top of the other emergency repair? Yeah, people are going to be angry if someone takes the time to do it right, but the alternatives are worse. Just saying.

It was chilly this morning with fog. I dressed for 60 degree weather with a dressy medium cotton blazer

2:30 this afternoon, I'm at the client's house trying not to glow (A leftover from my grandmother, who was a lady: "Animals sweat, men perspire, and women glow.") 

Well anyway, so there I was, glowing profusely, and I'm thinking, "that's it; change of life, here I come." Quick check on the client's outdoor thermometer? 85 degrees. 

Phew. I'll hold off on the change of life thingy for a little while longer.

Last week, a storm, this week, late summer. I'm so confused.

So darkfantasist  (who came to SF for the sole purpose of  visiting me) and I managed to barely avoid getting run over by President Obama's procession.

(Okay, technically we were in a restaurant and Pres. O. was whipping by in his limo. Okay, and D. happened to be here for the Oracle conference. Semantics. Still, that's the closest I'll ever come to a President. That was neat. )

I will say, between the 15-deep street crowd of cheerers and jeerers, the protesters with their signs with bullhorns and chants, the 20-billion police everywhere and the snipers on the roof,  the last job on earth I would want would be the President. The aura of desperation and hope and demands is so thick it's almost physical. (Coming from Canuckistan, I am comforted to know no one will grab me off the street and plunk me in the Oval Office. Hah.) 

(Also, I didn't tell D. but when we were squishing through the throngs to get to the restaurant, he barreled ahead like any guy does and I got left behind.  D. has stars tattooed on the back of his neck and he's much taller than me.  "Follow the stars, follow the stars!" kept running through my head. *grin*  Very helpful beacon, I must say.)

D. was a bit under the weather, which is to say he was going at a slower pace so I could almost keep up with him, and we entertained ourselves on writing news and life. The weather was so warm and muggy we could wander around without jackets, and the prevailing smells of sewer and coffee and garlic that I associate with SF were in full force. We ended up in an Italian restaurant (OMG, 4-cheese ravioli with mushrooms and a mushroom sauce and more mushrooms. Heaven) D. had filet and red wine risotto to die for and we waddled out of there so bloated we were practically rolling.

So we did what any normal, sane persons do in SF: we headed to the Irish pub to eat British and French desserts (crumble and creme brulee) and drink American beer and watch the transvestite singer singing "White Rabbit" and "Over the Rainbow."

Welcome to my world. I'm still feeling a tad fragile (which sounds much better than "hungover", no? I've also had one bowl of soup since Thursday and I'm still not hungry.)

Already. Again.

Was late because was on conference call with a contractor in the middle of the country about webinars and SEO. I'm tired of SEOs - but if you want to know who's on top of them with the Bluetooths and the live feeds from the construction sites and talks of positioning tags and strategic marketing, you need to talk to the contractors in residential remodeling. They're so clued in, they're already on Web 3.0.

Okay, not quite.

I'm rambling. Where was I? Oh, yeah. Birthday party. Sushi (typed shushi, which is really a tip to my avatar tonight, I suppose.)

Left  after the silky bluefin sashimi and the 4,000 drinks to the chef and while people could still talk but before the karaoke.

Oy.*

*There is a LOT packed in that little oy. Also, I used to have a waist. *mourns* Yeah. I know: a waist is a terrible thing to mind.

I'm so tickled by this it isn't even funny. :) Square Dancing in Japan. To "White Christmas." Japanese call-outs and fancy costumes for the win!

Awesome.

Happy Birthday, stevenagy !

In case you've come late to my blog, please note almost anything I write should be taken tongue-in-cheek.  Yesterday I noted how cold I was at 67 degrees. This is a severe case of self-mockery, as I lived in the Pacific Southwest of Canuckistan for 60% of my lifespan. 67 was pretty average, almost...warm.

See how far I've fallen? *grin*

It's a hard mock life...

Went out to hit some golf balls tonight at the local driving range.

It was freezing. I made a pot of tea and decided to check the temperature.

67.

FREEEEEEEZING!

In my defense, it was 100 on Saturday. Srsly. Marsha says I'm not going to get any sympathy either...

So I just finished my first webinar on blog writing for the construction industry.  They sent me a recording.I hate hearing recordings.

I sound like...like...

Michael Jackson.

*makes Calvin gag-face*

No. You don't need to listen. Really. because I see through yer nefarious blackmail schemes. I'm talking to you, you, you, you, and especially YOU.

We are all born naked and screaming and if you're lucky that sort of thing won't stop there. - Unknown

Happy Birthday, matociquala !

Yeah, I'm late, and I can't claim credit: found it at CakeWrecks. Groan-worthy, but I bet you laughed...

Went out for drinks last night and sitting out on the patio, found myself in the middle of a small town parade, complete with war veterans in Model Ts, various children's swim teams, and marching bands.

It was charming in the way of small parades everywhere -- large gaps between parade members, firetrucks sirens echoing off buildings, signs too small for bystanders to know who they were clapping for, and bands with a surfeit of drums drowning out the brass. But there were trays of cotton candy floating above bystander's heads, chidren jumping up and down clapping, and the temperature was perfect. An idyllic way to decompress on a Saturday evening.

I'm off to create trouble. Be good.

I'm at work waiting for my 15 minutes of fame  for closing time. Worked until 3 last night, got up at 8. Dontcha love deadlines? 

We had a LOT o f heavy thunder and lighting last night. This is rarer than jmeadows' minions. Big crashes setting of car alarms up and down the block, shaking homes. I don't remember ever seeing or hearing one here. I miss them...but not that much. We also had some muggy rain in the morning which gave way to clear blue skies again and normal sunny conditions.

This is what passes for Weather here. Overheard at a fast food joint:


Hooray, weekend!

It has somewhat belatedly occurred to me that I can't  make frown-y faces at those of you who aren't posting with all your news when I'm not posting much either. *cough*

So, basically - have lots of work, deadline on two projects, professional stuff toddling along. Writing's still going on - I'm forcing myself, a la darkfantasist  to get up at 6:00 to write in the mornings because by the end of the day, I'm wiped. Most likely because I'm getting up at 6, but there you go. If he can do it, I cannnnnnnnnnn....zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Okay, where was I?

Note to msisolak : these aren't the droids tales you're looking for. This is the non-fic even lthough the architect mage thingy is still shiny, Your Book is steaming along. For various levels of steam, of course.  (Um, also? If it's your book, how come you're not writing it? Oh, wait.  KIA P --Unite!  That was easy.  /droll)

Let's talk golf. I went out last night in order to be fit and went to the driving range with C., our project manager, to hit a bucket of golf balls. Wasn't bad. Only have two blisters and wasn't sore at all. That was this morning. Tonight,  I know exactly which muscles I  use when I golf. Had no idea my butt was so involved, but I'm going to stop there. The glamour, she never ends. 

But I have my fingers and toes in good working order. I have a job and a car that's paid for. I'm reasonably healthy, can walk unassisted, have a roof over my head, food in my belly, and clothes on my back (and front and all over, really.)

That's a good sort of glamor in my books.