Memorial Day Weekend Ahoy!

because nothing says "Happy Friday!" like two white people dancing. i've never seen that movie and have zero inclination to rectify that. hey, i needed an image that was joyful and didn't want to spend nine years looking. but given how i feel about summer, maybe it fits?

So, Summer is here. Officially. That time of year when it's 100+F outside, long walks are a misery, buildings are over air-conditioned, all the greenery is dead, and the nine million university students flee Austin only to return all at once for ACL Fest. Texas summers make me wish we had another place up north where we could escape. [sigh] Yeah. Buckle up, Buttercup. We've got five long ass months of this crap. Summer is my time to complain about Texas weather. Sometimes it's fun to complain.

I finished the mermaid story. Yay! That makes TWO short stories I've finished this year. Go me! It feels so good to be out of that slump. I've markets in mind for it already, and I'm in the midst of prepping it before it goes out. (My husband is my copyeditor/beta reader for short stories.) One more round of fixes and off it goes with a nice little bow. Here's hoping it sells. Now that would be amazing. Two short story sales in one year? Woah. (Yes. Established authors get rejections. Rejections are a fact of author life.) I feel really good about it--although, the story is a serious downer and should be presented with trigger warnings in tow. It was a tough one to write in much the same ways that Of Blood and Honey was difficult to write. I had to type out a few words, flee my desk, come back, type a few more words, run away...and so on. But again, I think it was worth it.

On to the Waterborne story that's been stewing in my back brain. I was stuck for a bit, but my subconscious coughed up the solution to the problem--which, as always, was right there in the story all along. I love when that happens. My story brain has to chew on things for a while. My best writing is in the rewriting, not necessarily in the initial draft. It's part of what makes me a slow writer. Plots don't come at me all at once. For me, they're like puzzle pieces I put together in fits and starts. Worse, every story is totally different. So, on a certain level it's like learning how to write a novel all over again.

Things I'm looking forward to:

I've always wanted to see a witch story that wasn't all white women. I want to see one wherein women of color and white women work together--but don't pretend that certain issues and tensions don't exist. (Yes. I've another story stewing in my back brain. :)) I didn't like how American Horror Story handled it. Women are always portrayed as infighting--holding one another down and using internalized patriarchal bullshit to do it. I hate that shit. Anyway, my hope is that this reboot will be things I hope for. It looks like it might be. [crosses fingers]

Now, there's a kid I relate to. I was that imaginative girl nobody liked at that age. And like her, I was battling shit no one understood. Gods, I have to see that, even if I'm bawling through the whole thing.

Lastly, I'm so going to watch Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom in spite of Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard. I like dinosaurs too much to pass on that one.