Won't do that again

I skipped my five minutes yesterday. I was good and didn't write here, but I was also snappy and irritable all day. Only compounded by the fact that I didn't finish the resource guide and Mom's covert criticism. Maybe she thinks she's making conversation, but I really don't need the run down of everything I'm slacking on like oh yardwork and housekeeping. Not when I tell you I'm working. But her opinion of sitting in front of the computer all day is colored by Dad who just plays games. Of course, I'm not working. I'm just writing and that's just playing too.

Otherwise, she's a very nice woman and very supportive as long as I keep her in the dark about my actual ambitions.

On housekeeping: a blog post from Laurie King did give me an idea.

Which means that since January, the house has not had any attention to speak of. Oh, it’s been kept tidy and clean, largely in part to the cleaning lady I hired eighteen months ago after finally deciding that yes, it might be a sin to depend on someone else to clean, but it was a minor sin, and at least I could walk across the floor without my feet sticking to something. And besides, she has a kid to support.

The last time I got any housekeeping support like that was when I hired Savannah about three years ago before she got sick. I couldn't afford it, so I had to go back to my haphazard care taking.

But finances aren't as tight as they were then. And when I view spending a little to actually get my weekends back to do yardwork, writing, craft projects, sewing, remodeling, and to actually force myself to deal with my paper piles rather than just piling. "She'll need to dust this, I better put these is the filing cabinet. Or I don't want anybody to read this, better put it away." I came to the conclusion long ago that not every woman is a domestic goddess, specifically me. I only do it because I'm afraid of making myself or my cat sick and I like having company over. That being said, it's still going to be completely unacceptable to actually hire somebody. Mom will lay on the money guilt trip. I can't afford it. I do need to get the car insurance straightened out, but I think it's a question of can I afford not to hire?

Well, it's one of those rare federal holidays that we have to work. So there probably won't be much job related that I have to do. I packed enough to keep busy, so that's not an issue.

I read this article Mez recommended, http://www.sfwa.org/bulletin/articles/dietz_summer_2005.pdf. I will be incorporating some of his ideas, and I've also been reading Holly Lisle's advice. Which leads me to the question which to concentrate on: short stories or novels?

I have short story ideas, but I really fail with researching markets. Novels take longer, but have a longer shelf life so to speak. I know you can make money off of short stories but you have to hustle, and hustling is what I suck at. I have some stories planned for specific markets, but otherwise no drive to actually work on them. However I'm wanting to pick up with Zy's novel again. I think she's got potentiality to become a series character.

I guess it is less of a question than I thought. Course I haven't had a chance to work on the outline for Zy's novel, and work computer can't download anything on it. Well I have homework to concentrate on first.

Deadline Projects: ENGL-575 assignments, ENGL-611 assignments, Acadiana Faire's resource guide, and Zy's novel.

Due dates:
ENGL-575 Research proposal and working bibliography due Oct. 17th
ENGL-611 Research project (Bibliographical essay?) due Oct. 20th
ENGL-611 Presentation on Jonson (are we still going to do this?) due Oct 20th
ENGL-575 First draft due Oct. 31st
ENGL-575 Presentation on Hyungji essay due Nov. 21st
ENGL-575 Revision due Nov. 21st
ENGL-575 Precis due Nov. 28th
ENGL-575 Final project presentation due Dec. 5th
ENGL-611 Major paper (due date not finalizied) due Dec. 8th
ENGL-575 Final Draft due Dec. 12th
ENGL-611 Major paper (due date not finalizied) due Dec. 15th
Acadiana Faire Resouce Guide 2006 (rough estimate will be revised) due Feb. 1st
Zy's Novel due Oct. 10, 2006

Though I have decided that one day a week is dedicated to something without a deadline. Especially with the previous resource guide I was driving myself batty after months of looking at nothing else. I reserve the time for fun now before I get started. Now let me get started reading so I can get started typing above and beyond what's due.

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The BookWorm