Brava novella: edits done, ready to go
BattleCorps story: research done, changes made

I got some exciting news today, but can’t post about it yet. Specifically told not to. Ack! It’s not The Most Amazing News, but it’s Very Good News at least. So. Bear with me.

I mailed four short stories and the M:TG proposal yesterday, and felt very virtuous. I also worked on the Brava novella edits. I plan to incorporate any changes today, do one final pass through, and envelope it so it goes out the Monday after Christmas (per Kris’s recommendation not to send it before Christmas).

Then on to some anthology stories and a bit of research for another BattleCorps story, before diving back into AETW. Fun!

(Remind me the next time I’m bemoaning that I don’t want to write that I said this was fun. Please.)

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Meanwhile, let’s talk about being damned with faint praise, or some other cliché like that. Here’s part of a _rejection_ I received yesterday:

“I was extremely impressed with [story], which I found original, very well written, and genuinely moving. I was surprisingly touched by the ending, as well. It's a thoroughly professional piece in all aspects.”

Argh. The story’s back out, of course. That had been only the seventh place I’d sent it. :-)

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We had a lovely dinner with Albra last night, and she gave me one of my Yule presents: a sage plant in a pretty terracotta pot. Today I transplanted it into one of my giant pots. I think I’ll transplant my lavender into the other giant pot and let it expand, and put my rosemary in the former lavender pot so it can expand, too. So far, so good, with keeping the herbs alive. Go me. (Honestly, I don’t know what happened. When I was younger, I had the greenest thumb. Now, not so much. But it seems to be getting better.)