Category: Uncategorized

Website: New and Improved!

It’s a lot easier to update an existing website than it is to start over from scratch.   But at some point you start looking at your website from 2007 and wondering if maybe something that isn’t done with html tables might be a good idea.  Probably for most reasonable people, that point was quite a while ago.  But better late than never, right?

The first day of building the new site was immensely frustrating.  WordPress isn’t that hard to learn, but there are a lot of options for themes and widgets and it took a while for me to …

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Armadillocon Schedule!

This weekend is Armadillocon, and I'm going to be there!  I haven't been back to Austin for a few years, and I am really looking forward to seeing some old friends (and meeting new people too, of course!).  Want to find me at the con?  Here's my schedule:

Sa1000F What Sciences Haven't Been Used?
Sat 10:00 AM-11:00 AM Ballroom F
Allen, Ledbetter*, J. Moore, Simmons, Yoachim
It's not all astronomy and physics. Where are the great psychology SF novels? What else should we be seeing?

Sa1100D Learning to Write: Recommended Workshops, …

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2014 by the numbers

107 submissions (includes reprints and foreign markets)
31 acceptances (20 original stories, 11 reprints/foreign market)
33 personal rejections
39 form rejections

Submissions-wise, 2014 was an amazing year for me.  I sent out more submissions than any other year, and I had more acceptances this year than in the last 4 years combined.

46500 words written

I don't track daily wordcounts, so to get words written I added up the wordcounts for all my completed drafts.  This includes a couple of co-written stories (and yes, I claimed all the words even though my co-author wrote some), but doesn't …

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Stories in 2014

As I start my year-end frantic reading of short fiction to put together my Nebula nominations, I really like other people's posts reminding me what stories they've had out this year. (I promise myself every year that I will keep up better and not binge read at the end of the year, but do I keep up? NO. I blame other people for writing too much good stuff.) So here is my 2014 roundup post.

My very favorite of my short stories out this year (and, in fact, my favorite of all the things I've ever had published so far) …

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Stories in 2013

I had five stories come out in 2013–a slight decrease from the six I had out in 2012, but definitely not bad given that having a small baby in the house slowed me down somewhat :)

Harmonies of Time (Daily Science Fiction, Jan 1st 2013)

Ten Million Sheets of Paper, All in Black and White (Giganotosaurus, April 2013)

A Crown of Woven Nails (Daily Science Fiction, Aug 26th, 2013)

Elizabeth’s Pirate Army (Fireside Issue #8, December 2013)

The Carnival Was Eaten, All Except the Clown (Electric Velocipede Issue 27)

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Books for Toddlers

AKA which books does my 2-year-old want me to read to her REPEATEDLY, and what qualities do these books share?

My daughter’s current favorite books include:

Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes
Baa Baa Black Sheep
Hug
Good Night, Gorilla
Sheep In a Jeep
City Dog, Country Frog

The first two are popular (I think) because I sing them for her. She particularly likes me to sing “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes” in Spanish. But the real key right now is words per page. Ideally, I should read about one …

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Nebula weekend!

I had a fantastic time at the Nebula Awards in DC. I got to meet and hang out several of my fellow nominees, including , ,, Eric James Stone, Rachel Swirsky, Vylar Kaftan, Mary Robinette Kowal and Paolo Bacigalupi. Plus I met many members of Codex (my online writing group), several fantastic editors, and two of my former Clarion West instructors. Phew! Lots of wonderful people and I'm sure I've forgotten some!

On Friday, Peter and I went on a guided tour of the Air and Space Museum. It was so much better than just wandering around the museum (which …

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Three things make a post

(1) I have a flash fiction story coming out at Daily Science Fiction on Monday — if you want to be among the first to read it, head over to their website (http://dailysciencefiction.com/) and get a free email subscription. Otherwise, you’ll have to wait a week for the story to be posted on their website.

(2) We’re set to start remodeling our kitchen on Monday, which I am very excited about. The current kitchen is small, walled-off, and TURQUOISE. The new kitchen will be open, bigger, and NOT turquoise. More detailed pictures and postings about the kitchen remodel, but I …

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