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World in the Satin Bag

Totals For 2007 and New Years Resolutions (Sorta)

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First things first, an explanation of the totals. I haven’t been keeping track of the totals all year, so these are, more or less, only totals since October. I’ve written considerably more when you take into account that I finished WISB this year, among other projects. So the totals are: Words Written: 26,855Words Edited: 44,200Submissions: 6Rejections: 4 (2 pending) Next year is going to be much better though. I have several short stories waiting to be edited, a lot of stuff still being written, etc. Now for my New Years Resolutions. Well, these aren’t really resolutions, but more like “things I want to do for ’08”: Start The Spellweaver of Dern (book two of the Satin Bag series) and finish it by October (130,000 words). Start Wellmere (working title) with my girlfriend and get about halfway by this time ’08 (100,000 words). Finish Marx Ignatia (25,000 words). Submit Death By Poking, Asher, Marx Ignatia, and any others sitting in limbo. Get published (with anything really, but preferably with a short story). Finish The Lies of Venicia by summer (95,000 words). Step up my writing ten-fold. That means write more, submit more, and finish more novels. Read a lot of review books (this is sort of a given). Read more young adult fantasy/sf (yes, I actually would love to read more stuff in this genre, but I’ve not received much yet and I don’t really know where to go to request review copies for this stuff–maybe someone could throw my name out?). Get good grades (also sort of a given). Figure out where I want to go for graduate school (yes, I actually have to think about this even though I just got here because my adviser told me I could technically graduate in fall of ’08). Fly to England to visit my girlfriend. Sell a bunch of stuff I don’t need anymore (pay attention to my ebay because I’m going to put up a bunch of books, dvds, cds, etc. in the next few weeks). Start and podcast. I actually really want to do this and Lindsey, my girlfriend, thought it sounded fun. We might do it. I’m hoping so. We have to talk about it more though. I think that’s it…I might edit that list at some point later. 2008 is looking to be a ‘writerly’ year for me. I’m trying to step things up considerably. I’m getting close to graduating and I have a lot to think about… Happy New Year by the way!

World in the Satin Bag

My Grades For Fall 2007 at UCSC (so far)

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In case anyone cares I thought I’d mentioned my grades thus far for last quarter. I’m just waiting in one more grade, which I think is a B or B+, or somewhere around there. Modern German Fiction w/ Theo Honnef: AIntro to Musical Drama (Opera) w/ Dan Seldon: A+(The + is actually meaningless unless you want to be “valid Victorian”, as I call it. Since I have no desire to be that I’m just glad it was an A) A note on both classes. I really enjoyed German Fiction. I’m keeping several of the books from it because I quite enjoyed them. Intro to Musical Drama really helped me develop a taste for opera. I’m quite fond of a few operas now and have actually seen a live opera, which was awesome. I learned quite a lot about the depth of the musical genre and even a little about the history of music and my sneaking suspicion that someone was behind the destruction of classical music, leading to the massive popularity of crap. Well, that’s a little harsh. There’s certainly so good older music, but you get the point. So just waiting on one more (Literary Interpretation). I’m rather surprised I did so well to be honest. The two courses I have been graded on are upper division, so to get such a high grade is a good thing. It really wasn’t all that challenging though. (Don’t click the read more, there isn’t any more after this!)

World in the Satin Bag

If Only Dinosaurs Were On Mars!

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I found this at Futurismic and thought I’d share my excitement. Apparently an asteroid may strike Mars in January! Why is this a big deal? Well, remember the dinosaurs? Remember when scientists told us they probably died from a big impact from an asteroid or comet? Well, here’s a great chance for us to watch a large object strike a terrestrial planet! I’m hoping it will happen because this could bring about a whole slue of interesting images or videos–even more interesting than the Shoemaker-Levy 9 images here, here, and here. We might actually get to witness a significant impact on a relatively Earth-like planet (Mars is semi-Earthish, though it lacks liquid water and it is a bit different, but we could expect to gather quite a lot of info from this little red guy). You can read a bit more about the impact at this NASA article.Asteroid 2007 WD5 isn’t a very big fella (about 50 meters or 164 feet), but for a small planet like Mars it shouldn’t matter. It’ll still do a good bit of damage and leave us enjoying every second of it: We estimate such impacts occur on Mars every thousand years or so,” said Steve Chesley, a scientist at JPL. “If 2007 WD5 were to thump Mars on Jan. 30, we calculate it would hit at about 30,000 miles per hour and might create a crater more than half-a-mile wide. It’s a 1 in 75 chance. Those aren’t bad odds when you think about it. (Don’t click the read more, there isn’t any more after this!)

Book Reviews, World in the Satin Bag

Book Review Up: The Longevity Thesis

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My review of The Longevity Thesis by Jennifer Rahn (Paperback; Kindle) is here. Take a look! Also, hopefully I will have an interview with Dana Copithorne up soon. I submitted the questions and am awaiting her responses. And, I may have an interview with Dave A. Law and Darin Park soon (they wrote The Complete Guide to Writing SF–Paperback; Kindle–which I reviewed here). In other news, I’ve updated my Amazon store with all the books I’ve read for school this year. I’m taking literature courses, so most of them are not text books, but actual books. So, check it out if you like! (Don’t click the read more, there isn’t any more after this!)

World in the Satin Bag

Getting Desperate! Housing Needed!

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Some of you know my housing situation has become rather, well, bad. I need a room to rent by January, and right now it’s not looking so good. So I’m writing a post begging for help on this matter.Does anyone who reads this blog know of anyone renting a room, who may want to rent a room, or know of a room available? I can afford anywhere between $350 and $450, plus utilities. It needs to be a place that is okay with caged animals. I don’t have dogs or cats, however I get along with either if the place has them.Any help here would be greatly appreciated. This month is dwindling away fast and the only lead I have right now hasn’t called me back, which leads me to believe that I’m not going to get called back. Come January I could very well have no place to go… Thanks. (Don’t click the read more, there isn’t any more after this!)

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