Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Episode 27 - Now We Are Forty


My birthday was yesterday, but my warrenty ran out a looooooong time ago. In the last forty years, I have...



  • Split my scalp (I was jumping on the bed, missed, and landed on my noggin; I know, explains a lot, doesn't it?)

  • Smashed my middle finger in a weight machine (not fun)

  • Ended up in the emergency room puking my guts up four times over a gall stone no one could find (but my mother knew it was there!)

  • Had surgery to remove gall stone no one could find (damn thing turned out to be as large as my thumbnail)

  • Broken my nose

  • Broken my ribs... twice

  • Screwed up my right knee (my husband's fault - he mistook me for a 900 lb. gorilla and attacked me)

  • Screwed up my left knee (someone else's fault - apparently they also thought I was a 900 lb. gorilla)

  • Screwed up my right knee again (completely random sparring accident - my opponent did NOT think I was a gorilla, but did get her leg tangled in mine during the match)

  • Fractured my sternum (once again, someone mistook me for a gorilla, only this time I must have weighed 1800 lbs. given how hard I got hit)

  • (BTW, these last six injuries all happened during martial arts classes, in case you haven't guessed.)

  • Had a c-section (for Princess)

  • Had a VBAC - Vaginal Birth After C-section (for Pixie, and I split right up the front into the naughty bits when she came out!)


I'm pretty sure I've done some other things to myself, or been injured by others who have feared my inner gorilla, but these things are too numerous to be recalled. In any event, what I'm trying to say is, I'm damned lucky to still be alive!!


There will probably be a two-week break between this episode and the next. It's not that I don't love you all, but this weekend I've got a 3-day karate camp to attend (yay! more opportunities to get injured!) and the next week I'm headed out to Las Vegas for EPICon 2009. If you're planning on attending EPICon, I should be doing a panel on podcasting for writers. And yes, I will be wearing my horns, so you'll know me when you see me };)


Until the next episode, see ya!!

Monday, February 9, 2009

Episode 26 - I Have A New Book! AAAAUGH!


OH MY GOD!!! I HAVE A BOOK COMING OUT!!!


Seriously, I've spent the last few months running around like a chicken with my head cut off AND my ass on fire, trying to get ready for the release of "Future Perfect: A Collection of Fantastic Erotica." Final edits, cover art, announcements, promo, conventions, more promo... I've pulled more all-nighters than I have since Pixie was a new-born, maybe even more than I have since grad school (and that was a loooooooong time ago). It's been a lot of work, and I hope you all find that it's worth it.


Future Perfect will be available both in digital format and in print from Logical Lust. It will also be listed on Amazon.com, and I believe there will be a Kindle format for it as well.


I will be at Farpoint this weekend, the 13th-15th of February, in Timonium, Maryland. I'll be there as a writing and podcasting guest (and that feels so good to say - I was INVITED to be a GUEST!). I plan to have 20 copies of Future Perfect, plus copies of "Coming Together: With Pride," "Cream: The Best of the Erotica Readers and Writers Association," and hopefully a few copies of "Demon By Day." I'll also have some swag - bookmarks and postcards, and maybe even some nifty looking buttons for the Heat Flash Erotica Podcast.


I have to thank Michael for everything he's done through all this. No kidding, that man really does have a halo. He's taken the kids more evenings and weekends than I can count, caring for them while I lock myself away in the office to work. He's put up with my weird schedule (weekends off? Who the hell gets weekends off?). He's fixed computers, built computers, bought computers, and probably executed a few computers for me (the last I'm sure he did as humanely as possible). And he's taking the girls again this weekend as I take off for three days of pimpin-- er, promoting the new book up at Farpoint.


I still have a lot to do after the convention. I've got to get promo put together for EPICon 2009 and prepare for a panel I'm doing on podcasting there. Plus Michael and I have a three-day karate camp to attend, and Princess has a birthday coming up this month (so do I, but we really don't want to talk about how OLD I am, do we?). But, come March, I'm hoping that things finally start to settle down a bit. I won't be taking on any more new deadlines, but instead plan to concentrate on what's already on my plate.


Any other news? Oh yeah! I'll have a story in the upcoming "Coming Together: Al Fresco," edited by Alessia Brio. This is another charity anthology, which means I'm donating the story, but I have to tell you, competition to get into these anthologies is fierce, so I'm happy to be given the opportunity to participate.


I'm sure there's lots else going on too, but right now I've got a slippery Pixie fresh out of the tub and I need to catch her and slap a pull-up on her before we have an incident. Have fun this week! And don't forget to...


BUY MY BOOK!!!

Sunday, February 1, 2009

Episode 25 - This Is My Life!


Yes, this has been my life the last several weeks. Since November, I have struggled to survive the holidays, a convention (9 panels, 1 reading, an all-day author table!!), final edits on my new book Future Perfect, creating the cover art for said book, getting set up to join the "Oh Get A Grip" group blog (read us - we're fun!!), keeping up with the Heat Flash erotica podcast which now airs on Thursdays at 8PM on Radio Dentata (streaming internet radio with teeth!!), clean the house, feed the kids, help the Princess with her homework, potty train Pixie, and somehow find a few moments to have sex with my husband.


Yeah, it's been a little busy.


Things are starting to slow down a bit. I got my last major deadline out the door on Friday. I submitted a short story to Alessia Brio's Coming Together: Al Fresco, and regardless of whether or not I make it into this volume, I highly encourage everyone to buy a copy of any of the Coming Together books (I do have a story in Coming Together: With Pride, if you're interested). Coming Together is a charity anthology and all the proceeds go to the organization of choice for each volume. It's doing good while being bad, and ya gotta love that.


So this week's cartoon is just a glimpse into what's been going on at la casa de Cynical Woman. I'm tired, but things are evening out and I hope to be back on some sort of regular schedule in the next couple of weeks. I'll be at the Farpoint science fiction convention on Valentine's Day weekend, the same weekend as the release of Future Perfect, so I will be gearing up for that, getting promo ready and preparing for the panels I'm on (only six this time, I believe). Otherwise, I'll be turning my attention back to the podcast and this cartoon, putting in a little more time on my two favorite projects for a while. Hopefully, I'll have another cartoon ready within the week. See ya then!