James Frey exhaustion, a plug for Inkygirl

Explanation of above comic:
If you've missed the whole James Frey controversy, go here. I scribbled this morning's cartoon out of frustration, having had to plow (yet again) through a zillion pages of articles and editorials about James Frey to find publishing news for my Market Watch column.

It's true that the controversy has had an impact on the publishing world (particularly publishers and authors of memoirs), but I'm hoping the current obsession passes soon.

I've been catching up on various writing and publishing blogs lately for Inkygirl; holy cow, are there a lot of them! I just discovered some excellent ones, like Miss Snark: The Literary Agent (thanks to Sal Towse for pointing me to this one), the blog of an "anonymous" NYC agent. Highly opinionated, snarky, funny, informative.

Speaking of Inkygirl, I haven't put in a plug for my blog for writers in ages, so figured it's about time. Sal just pointed out to me that I've been writing it for three years. Yikes, I had no idea it was that long.

Anyway, Inkygirl includes listings of telecommuting jobs for writers, cartoons and photos, mini-reviews and editorials from yours truly, pointers to various interesting and/or useful resources for writers. There are also links to my Market Watch column and Will Write For Chocolate comics. If you have any interest in freelance writing, please do check it out.

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The Not So Glamorous Life of a Freelance Writer

Worked most of yesterday on a book proposal that I plan to submit early this week. I've decided that even if the publisher doesn't go for it, I'm definitely submitting it elsewhere. In fact, my agent has suggested that I should consider putting together other non-fiction book proposals as well. Two publishers have approached me about doing projects, after all; usually it's the other way around.

So now I'm starting to brainstorm about ideas in addition to working on my novels. I still plan to pitch shorter pieces to magazine markets meanwhile, but the idea of having my agent pitch book-length ideas at the same time is highly appealing. I love my agent.

It takes a great deal of time to research and put together a proper magazine article query, sometimes longer than writing the actual piece, which is why I try to focus only on articles that have a wide range of potential markets...that way if one is rejected (either at the pitch stage or after I've written it), I can send it elsewhere.

Pitchpitchpitch. Anyone who thinks freelancing writing is glamorous is living in another dimension. So much of it is about promotion and marketing, as well as learning how to deal with rejection. Unless you're very lucky, a LOT of rejection. Hm, I should do a Will Write For Chocolate column about this topic sometime.

Despite the above, however, I should point out that I love being a writer, and am immensely grateful that I have such a supportive spouse. I wake up every morning excited about my work and still marvelling at the fact that people are paying me to do something I love doing anyway.

Glamorous? No. But it feeds my soul, and I feel like one of the luckiest people in the world for having it.

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A New Year's Resolution

Strange to think I've been blogging nearly nine years now. NINE YEARS. Blatherings started out as a way to keep in touch with friends. I have since started to incorporate more graphics and have grown more cautious about the information I post, aware of a larger readership than before. Check out this post from 1998, for example, when Jeff and I celebrate my first banner advertiser for Inkspot, and I posted my (now-inactive) ICQ# at the end of the post.

Of course, back then there weren't nearly as many people on ICQ. As Inkspot grew in popularity, I became (slightly) less enamoured about online communication as I started receiving hundreds of e-mails a day (NOT including spam), most of them asking me for things.

Now I keep in touch with friends mainly through phonecalls and visits, and sometimes checking various Livejournals and blogs. Please note the "sometimes." Here is my annual reminder about my feelings re: Livejournals/blogs.



One of my New Year's Resolutions is to spend less time in Livejournal, more time focusing on my writing and illustrating projects. I was getting to the point where I was checking my LJ Friends list several times a day, and my e-mail far more times than that. :-) Those with full-time jobs can likely get away with this, depending on their work situation. As a freelancer, however, I need to start being more efficient with how I spend my online time during the workday.

At this point I can imagine some people on my Friends list bristling with indignation. "She doesn't really CARE!" "Who does she thinks she IS, anyway?" And those people should probably re-read my LJ policy. I'll still be blog-browsing, but just not as fanatically as I have been. And I'll continue to trust that close friends will tell me important info they want me to know themselves instead of assuming I'll read it through their blogs; I'll do the same.

Only two more days until I leave for GAfilk! Lots of things to look forward to at the convention including:

- The Guests! Guests of Honour: Dandelion Wine, Toastmaster: Dave Rood, Interfilk guest: Carolyn Brown (from Toronto, woohoo!), Super Secret Guest: Karen Anderson

- Meeting/hearing Michelle Dockery of Escape Key for the first time. Seeing Tony Fabris again (it's been AGES...!).

- Irish session being planned by Mary the Braider. Too bad I don't have my new whistle yet.

- The Banquet, always a highlight of the convention for me because of the fantabulous GAfilk House Band (including my music partner, Jodi!)

- Donating my first quilt square ever to the GAfilk Interfilk quilt. I just hope Margaret Middleton isn't too horrified by the terrible sewing job I've half-done so far.

- Swing dancing lessons from Mark Osier. I think he's giving a workshop on Saturday.

- I just found out that Tanya Huff is coming to GAfilk, yay! I hope she brings her little black dress. ;-)

- Just hanging out and enjoying the convention. I have zero commitments in terms of performing, etc. so plan to happily wander about quite aimlessly this weekend.

Not sure if I'll be posting again until next week. Hope to see some of you in Atlanta!

Here are a few pics from last year's GAfilk. Click on any image for a bigger version:

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Happy New Year!

Happy New Year, everyone! Jeff and I spent New Year's Eve with my sister and her family. This afternoon I'm going back over for mochi-making.

Mochi are sticky rice cakes and are a traditional Japanese New Year's food. I still remember helping with the mochi-making when I was a small child. In the Japanese mochi-pounding ceremony in Japan (mochitsuki), polished glutinous rice is soaked overnight and then cooked. The cooked rice is then pounded with wooden mallets and then formed into various shapes.

In our family, my grandfather used to make patties from rice flour and water, cook the patties in a big pot filled with boiling water, then pound the cooked mixture with a wooden mallet. After a few years, he switched to a more convenient method: A wooden cutting board with a hole drilled in the centre was placed on top of the pot, then Grandpa would stick an electric drill through the hole. The drill had a paint mixer attachment on the end (it was ONLY used for mochi-making) for stirring the heavy rice mixture.



Because the heavy mixture would cause the drill to move around, it was the job of us kids to hold the wooden board in place. My mom and my grandmother would spread the smooth rice paste in steaming rectangular slabs on wax paper. After it cooled, the slab was cut up into squares.

The mochi could be eaten in a variety of ways. Sometimes bits of mochi were thrown into a boiling Japanese, other people deep-fry it. My favourite was when Mom toasted the mochi in a frying pan until it puffed up, crunchy-brown at the edges...then we'd dip the hot pieces into a mixture of sugar and soy sauce before eating it. Sometimes we'd wrap it in toasted nori first.



Mmmm...can't wait to have some later today! My grandparents and my mom are no longer around, but my father has continued the tradition. You can get wrapped pre-made mochi squares in specialty Japanese food stores, but I like the fresh stuff much better. Not particularly low-fat, as you might guess, which is another reason I try to limit my mochi-binging to only a few times a year.

The photos today are from my first experiments with fabric paint on the weekend. I bought a bunch of colours at the Loomis Art Store Boxing Day sale and tried them out on a denim square and a t-shirt. After the paint was dry on the square, I ironed the fabric on the reverse side for five minutes to set the paint, then machine-washed the square in cold water.

Looks like the paints survived my test, so I added a few beads to add interest and I'll donate it to the GAfilk Interfilk quilt; Margaret Middleton has kindly offered to help me add the finishing touches (cutting it to the right size, adding cotton batting and backing, etc.) at the convention.

The t-shirt (see top photo) was my second experiment with fabric paints; I still haven't decided what to put on the back. I'll probably add some beads to this as well. "Will Write For Chocolate", of course, refers to my new comic strip.

One year ago, I asked people where they were at midnight.

Three years ago, I reminisced about New Year's traditions.

Four years ago, I was sick. Jeff and Parki kept me company on New Year's Eve.

Six years ago, I talked about what I did on the last day of the millennium.

Seven years ago, I was going to be interviewed by Sympatico Netlife magazine and a radio show called Moneyroom.

Eight years ago, I wanted to see Titanic.


Gift from Jeff.

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