Not a zombie!
Guess who isn’t dead?
Oi, where in hell have I been?
Well, to put it shortly…
1. Tooth pain. Bad tooth pain. One of my molars is now nothing but an L-shaped shell that has blessedly been numbed entirely until I can get it pulled out.
2. Months of mental exhaustion from a combination of work and pain that tried to carve my brain cells out and eat them.
3. Months of playing World of Warcraft to distract myself from the pain, and then getting sucked in until it killed what few brain cells I have left.
4. My computer crashing constantly, which was 90% because of #3.
Basically I’ve been kind of slogging through life on auto-pilot. And I got entirely sick of it a couple of days ago. It feels like waking up from a dream where even in the dream I’m sleeping, but it’s good to feel alive again (and not to be in pain anymore, and not to be wasting any more time on a game that really can be like an addiction; I’ve 95% quit, and only log in for about 5 minutes a day).
I have been working on revisions in that time, though, and I’m almost done. I’m not going to start querying with the new version yet, though. I still have to proofread it with a fine-tooth comb, for one, and get some feedback from beta readers to see if it works or not. Also, I still have a couple of fulls out on the old version. It’s a one in a million shot that either agent will want to represent me (isn’t it always?), but should either of them express interest, I think it’d be rude to say, “Oh, you know that manuscript you just wasted a couple of days of your life reading? Well, I have a better one now. Sorry to waste your time!” If someone likes it as-is (well, obviously with revisions–there are always revisions once it gets into an agent’s hands, as they have the professional perspective to help shape it)…well, it’d be stupid not to trust their judgment.
Still, it’s a tricky situation. When I started querying, I thought I was ready. Someone asked about that in the Twitter #askagent chat last night, actually – about what to do when you thought you were ready to query, and then end up rewriting until it’s practically a different, better novel, and if it’s all right to requery. Most were pretty positively responsive, as long as you wait a decent length of time to requery. I don’t know. I don’t even know if I’m going to query with the new version. Depending on the response I get from the agents with fulls, I’ll make a decision on where to go from here.
I miss writing. I’ve been doing a few little drabbles the past few days; nothing really important, but just warming up unused muscles.
As if the entire ramble wasn’t random enough, let’s close off with a completely different topic:
I really wish people would stop making such a huge fuss about President Obama bowing to the emperor of Japan. When in Rome, people. When in Rome. It’s called politeness and mutual respect, and if we’re going to expect everyone to conform to our customs when on our soil, then we can have the courtesy to respect their customs when on their soil. It’s not a sign of weakness or deference, and the kind of close-minded centrism rising around that sentiment is why half the world hates us.
That’s all. So. How’re you? (…if there’s anyone even left in this ghost town…)
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05.04.12
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My superhero novella, From the Ashes, comes out from Entangled Publishing in August of 2012!
About Adrien
On the Shelf
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Stuff
Like we’d ever REALLY leave you, Adri. *scoff*
In you’re months away, you hear what they did to us at 451? *smirk* asshats. I miss writing for a network. So does my “extra cash” pocketbook.
But anyway – glad to see you back!
your months away.
good god, why do I do that EVERY TIME? I KNOW THE DIFFERENCE I SWEAR.
~blinks~ No, I didn’t….I had been talking to Kim for a bit about the problem I mentioned to you before, but she stopped responding. What happened?
Dude. DUDE. Ok, so. this is what happened:
You’re little issue with Kim that you fixed and all? Yeah, about… I dunno, 2 weeks after that, the network went down. Not all that unusual unfortunately, but AAAAAAAAAAAH it was Big Brother Season -and you KNOW what kinda traffic I get then. I ws well on my way to 160k for the month.
Anyway. So I get the feeling that something was wrong. REALLY wrong this time. There was no communication like normal. So I set up a secondary site for BBC, so that I could try and maintain my traffic. While I do that, the network goes back up – but over half of us were completely blocked from our blogs. I discovered I could still get in (hurray for “remember me!) and realized that all the user emails and passwords had been reset to default 451. I reported that, and changed mine back to the correct thing, and resumed posting on the blocks I could get into.
Then we discover – via Kim’s personal blog – that she’d been laid off. The feeling shit was about to hit the fan REALLY hits – so I set up a secondary parenting teens blog too, and start copying posts. They were MINE (after 30 days, according to contract!) and so I grabbed them ALL – bbc and ptb.
Then the network went down again- this time taking EVERYTHING with it. Forunately, I’d already told folks where to find me if it happened again – at least for the two favorite ones. BB coverage continued.
THEN. Do i even need to mention that we were NOT PAID ON TIME during this fiasco? two weeks late, we FINALLY get paid – after we had to submit individual requests for each site through directly to steve via paypal to get our money.
Then, the network goes back up – and this time even our names have been removed. It’s like you see it now – no names on any blog, and anything on the front page is straight up spammer material that kim was trying to shut down, before she was laid off. So now, we’re not even getting credit for any of the work. And all add proceeds now are going direct to 451, and they get all profits to supposedly “Pay off their investors we owe money too.”
What’s wrong with this picture is that according to contract, we are to be paid for a certain amount of time in the event of a shut down if they leave the blogs up to still get ad hits. Needless to say, we never have, and never will, see a penny of it.
So that’s why you can now find me at http://parentingteensblog.net and http://bigbrothercraze.us
the other ones I just let go.
And THAT’S what happened. Heh.
I…holy crap. I knew 451 was being mismanaged even when I left to focus on my full-time work, but this is just ridiculous. I’m sorry they treated everyone that way. It’s too bad you can’t get them for breach of contract or something, but they probably don’t even have any money to give you. Still, they could have handled it with a little more grace and professionalism.
They sure could have. It was stupid all the way around. And making money on your own blog is HAAAAAAAARD. *L* I pretty much suck at it. But I’m still writing, so there’s that.
Wow, Lessa, I’m sorry to hear that
Welcome back, Adri
Don’t worry about having been away, you haven’t broken your own record yet, LOL!
There’s actually people making a fuss about Obama greeting the Japanese Emperor in a fitting manner? o_O Isn’t that fussing just to be fussing?
Lessa: Let me know if you need any help? I don’t get much traffic here, but I can link you anyway. And hai, there is that. Always keep writing.
Sihaya: ~laughs~ Seriously? You remember what my record is? I don’t. Six months? I think that was on the comic, though.
And yeah, people are making a huge fuss. They’re saying things like, “I don’t know why President Obama thought that was appropriate. Maybe he thought it would play well in Japan. But it’s not appropriate for an American president to bow to a foreign one” and “the gesture bespoke a United States that has become weak and overly-deferential under Obama” and “It’s ugly. I don’t want to see it. We don’t defer to emperors. We don’t defer to kings or emperors. The president of the United States — this coupled with so many apologies from the United States — is just another thing” and “I’ll bet if you look at pictures of world leaders over 20 years meeting the emperor in Japan, they don’t bow.”
I think they’re taking it way out of context and demonstrating a complete lack of cultural sensitivity.
Ghost town? You’ve still your feverent and faithful fans! You were definitely missed ’round these here parts! I am honestly glad to see you’re “alive” once again! I can definitely relate to that ^^. I wish you all the best with the proof-reading of SB!
With regards to the “Obama Bow”, in Japan he was complimented for how humble and how well Obama bowed (which I find funny). The only “faux pas” he committed was both bowing and shaking the Emperor’s hand which just looked a little silly.
He is so cool over there that he has his own (imaginary-ish) verb! ??? (Obamu) : to proceed optimistically despite challenging obstacles.
Also to refute the “I’ll bet if you look at pictures of world leaders over 20 years meeting the emperor in Japan, they don’t bow.” In 1992, shortly after getting trounced by Emperor Akihito in tennis, the first President Bush went to a state dinner in Tokyo and made world headlines by throwing up. Though the event has faded from memory, there was apparently once a word,????? (Bushu suru) meaning “to do the Bush thing” — i.e. vomit in public.
Personally, I definitely would take a bow and an awesome verb anytime ^^
Source: http://www.cnngo.com/tokyo/none/obamu-obama-gets-his-own-imaginary-verb-895834
Peace, love and chocolate chip cookie dough!
…you know, I’m so used to “peace, love and chocolate chip cookie dough” that hearing it, now, is like coming home. Weird, ne?
Also, that is so effin’ awesome about the made-up verbs. I told Hikaru about “Bushu suru” (him being the Republican that he is) and he just about died laughing.