Announcements

Note: Grasping for the Wind has renamed this segment to “Inside the Blogosphere.” So from now on I will call it that. So, I’m up on another of Grasping for the Wind’s little blogger Q&A. The question was: In SF&F, should sex be included in the narrative or not? Should there be different standards for its inclusion in young adult or adult literature? What should those standards be? What are your personal standards and why? You can find my answer, along with several others, here. What do you think on matters of sex in literature?

…because I’m really so obsessed with my self-importance that I must update you all on what’s going on with my life. Actually, this is more so all you readers out there don’t think I’ve died or been kidnapped by aliens or Sasquatch or even, heaven forbid, the chupacabra. So what’s going on: I’ve moved, successfully. I no longer live in the hell hole I was in before, my new landlord is actually pretty cool and really nice, and it’s freaking quiet as hell up here. I now live in the woods, as strange as that might sound, and, well, I like it. I come from a wooded area anyway (Placerville), but what makes Felton (where I live now) better is that it isn’t as hot. True, it gets warm up here (I think the hottest thus far has been in the 80s), but because we’re relatively close to the ocean it won’t maintain high temperatures for long and won’t have the peaks like Placerville or Sacramento. So, lots of good things here. Plus, it’s really easy to get to Santa Cruz from up here. I’ve started school (well, I started on Friday, but so be it). It’s actually a lot more insane than I expected. My grad course is…terrifying, but at the same time challenging. I’m confused right now, but one of my professors is really happy for me and thinks I’ll do well in it. This is something I’m not very used to, perhaps because I grew up with some sort of issue with detaching myself from my family. I don’t know why I was like that, or why I still am, but I’ve never felt comfortable with my family giving me compliments and this has moved in the opposite direction to people who are friends or acquaintances. So, to be told by my professor that I’m a good writer, that I’m intelligent and destined for graduate school and great things is really surprising and wonderful and a lot of things all at once.Moving on, I have a lot of work to do for school… The Gaylactic Spectrum Awards are coming to a close soon, so I will be reading like mad over the next few days to catch up. I am hoping to join the staff of a magazine run by UCSC, probably fiction editor or something else. It’s pending at this point. I’m applying for an undergraduate research grant and have to have the proposal written in about two weeks so I can go over it with my professor. I think that’s about all. What all that means above is that there might be a severe reduction in posting on WISB for at least two or three weeks, maybe longer. With that in mind, I would love to bring in more guest bloggers. If you’re interested, let me know. Seriously. I’d like to keep this thing running, but something has to be put to the side so I don’t explode, and it will be the blog for a short time due to school being far too important (sorry if this upsets you, but this blog is not what is going to allow me to get a good job in the future, as much as I love this thing).I will continue to post, but it might be less than three or four times a week, depending on my time. So, anyone want to be a guest blogger? (Don’t click the read more, there isn’t any more after this!)