Remember me? I used to blog here.

Doyce and I got to talking the other day, since the editor of the anthologies where we sold a few short stories sent us an email, asking for contributions to upcoming titles. And we may do that again -- I liked writing with my sweetie! Anyway, that whole introduction was to say that the emails reminded me of ANOTHER place where we'd sold a story, and I don't think I ever linked to it, so here it is: Fishnet Mag.

Full caveat: it's kinda dirty. If you don't pick up on that from the header at the top of the Fishnet page, I think our story will set you straight pretty shortly thereafter. Don't read if you're... um... squeamish about talking about sex. Or shopping. Or if you're a member of my family.

Thanks!

Strike Update

No, I don't represent tv writers, but I still absolutely support them in their strike. How can you show your support? Avoid tv on DVD, or on the internet. Writers are striking to get paid for those views.

Remember when we used to be able to watch reruns on tv between seasons? It doesn't happen anymore because those shows go right onto the internet for available download. Now, when everyone's being treated fairly, I love being able to get caught up on my tv sitting in front of my computer. Since I learned that those viewings are being termed by the networks as "promotion," and don't make their writers any money? Not so much.

Keep reading.

Reviewers love us!

Thanks to Teresa, whose blog I regularly troll, I found this link to a review of Love on the Dark Side, the latest Black Lace anthology to feature a story by Katie Doyce. And they liked it!

Power Play, by Katie Doyce is a great sci-fi story about the super heroes (Vindicators) of Mercury Bay, and how one woman, Jessica, who also goes by the name of Timbre, uses some special techniques to capture the heart of Cinder, an escaped naughty boy. But it's her week off, if she turns him in that would be work, so she puts her plan in action to keep him detained. After all, she's supposed to be on holiday! A delightful tale of cunning tactics, sensational vibes, and superhuman power play! It's funny, sexy and out of this world.

Just out now in the US. Pick up a copy today!

Writing Assignment

Grabbed this off of ***Dave's blog, who got it from Terry, who got it from some guy named Steven Leigh. Otherwise known as Ten Questions for Writers, I'm going to try to forget Dave's answers and come up with my own.

What color is fear? Orange, with a fiery red around the edges.

What sound does affection make? Laughter.

What texture does Autumn have? Crisp, like scrunching leaves under your feet as you walk.

What shape does a conversation make? A figure eight, like infinity. Round and around and around.

What fabric is a kitten made of? Sorry, Dave, your answer's just absolutely right. Cashmere.

What noise is made by curiosity? A querolous "Mmmhm?", like the red monsters from "Labyrinth," or some other Henson creatures. The aliens encountering a telephone.

What is the smell of knowledge? Libraries -- old books, ancient xerox machines, wet wool on people that got caught in a rain shower and came inside to get warm and check out a book.

How do you punctuate life? With an exclamation mark or two. And sometimes a smilie.

What does death taste like? Ash and loneliness.

If a tree falls in the forest and there’s no one there to hear it, what kind of tree is it? A new home to a different breed of forest creature.

Your turn!

What does Your Writing Mean to You?

My brilliant and talented (if too far away) friend Miss Midwesterly recently shared an essay she wrote for a writing grant, answering the question, "What Does Your Writing Mean to You?" In part, she wrote,

I am about the fine sense of gratification I get from the quick panicked scratch of pencil on cheap newsprint in a jotting of a thought in the middle of the night ("quickquick before it goes away"), or the swoop of liquid ink that expresses a note of thanks ("What a lovely housewarming—and an equally lovely home!"), or the banging of my fingers on the keyboard when I am particularly moved by something and have found a good turn of phrase with which to express each shade of the moment ("I stored his business card in my bag, where I stumbled across it often, by accident, on my way to look for my keys, or sunglasses, or wallet"). I am lucky and determined enough to choose a path that places an onus on me to share with others what I see, learn, and experience. Life comprises these moments, details.

It's a gorgeous essay, and I was inspired to answer the same question myself. I invite you to consider it as well!

For me, writing is about sharing. Sharing a world that I envision, or that appears to me in a burst of inspiration, sharing how one character's reaction to a situation may speak to others. As so much of what I write now is personal, though I yearn to get back to fiction, in all of my writing I share myself -- my thoughts, my dreams, my wedding plans -- and welcome comments from others. It is a kind of companionship, writing. Sharing words with others, we can each experience them, take them into ourselves, and see how they fit -- like trying on a pair of shoes in a store, buying them, and wearing them around indoors to see how they feel, careful not to scuff the soles by walking on hard pavement, but knowing that just by taking them into my home, into my closet, they're already a part of my life.

Words are meant to be read, to be heard, just as shoes are meant to be worn.

How Divine! Again!

Want to know more about how I got into triathlons in the first place? Read my latest article on Divine Caroline. With a picture of me crossing my latest finish line!

Great speech

Lots of people have been blogging about Keith Olberman's Special Comment on July 3rd (and you probably don't even need a link to go find it, since you're probably someone who already commented on it yourself), but what I haven't seen before was a transcript of the speech. As the editor whose blog I pulled this from said, someone should hire Olberman to be a presidential speechwriter.

Ladies and gents, that is GOOD writing.

Redecorating a Life

Read my latest piece on Divine Caroline. See a picture of Doyce's new bathroom! Leave comments!

I'm thrilled and amazed to have already turned in my four pieces due in June, so expect a few more postings like this one soon!

Looking to make plans for the 4th?

I have suggestions! Check out my latest article on Divine Caroline, and stay tuned for more!

I believe I promised blogging!

And so... voila!

How very Divine. Two short pieces, with my photos. Un and deux.

Also, I just bought a new album on iTunes, and what SHOULD I have done? Bought it through Tunes for Trees, where for every ten tracks purchased, a tree is planted!

In my defense, I'm a wee bit tipsy. A friend and I finally explored a bit around the neighborhood and found a great restaurant that's my new favorite. YumMY.

What else? Who knows?

I'm going off the grid as of crack-of-dawn tomorrow, with some possible photo posting, but that's it. No blackberry, no computer, nothing but sun and sand and books to read and frosty beverages. See ya next week!

Also... totally Divine!

Two more articles up on Divine Caroline! Check 'em out!

Bear Foamy and the short story Silver Trees With Golden Leaves, from the first Storyball.

Go, read, leave comments!

Haven't been to Divine Caroline lately?

Why not? You can read about ALL KINDS of interesting people. Why, just the other night, at a gathering of Divine Caroline writers, I met the woman whose derriere has been named "The Best Butt on Broadway." She's the last remaining original cast member of "Chicago," and you can read what she wrote here about "The Pursuit of Happyness."

Thinking about windows? Read more here, by a professional architect.

Feeling stressed about how much time you have to do things? See what a modern mom does to avoid the space-time continuum. (Ok, fine, I just like writing about the space-time continuum.)

And of course, check up on your favorite ktbuffy. Even more stuff coming soon. Poke around some, won't you?

The Problem With Blogging

Doyce wrote a long post, well worth reading, that touches on the main "problems" with blogging. I could totally go through his list and tick off my agreement with many of the comments he cites, and share my own experiences.

Like that one time I was put in the middle of a fight with a group of friends, and I blogged that I wish people who had problems with other people would just talk to THEM about it, and not drag me into the middle, and how because of that, I'm no longer talking to half those people?

Or about my rants and raves about work, most of which I shuffled off into fictional form on a novel, but certainly some of which made it into blog form, though I never used names, at least as far as I recall?

Or my overblown emotional outpourings of affection for my fake internet boyfriend, who ending up decidedly not boyfriendly?

Or the fact that when I did become involved in a real relationship, I recognized that I didn't want our friends and families to experience every minute detail of it, and that there were somethings best kept private?

Or that we are all, easily, googlible, and people you've never met before are able to make the connection between your personal, perhaps anonymous blog and your true self?

Or how even some of the links and non-personal articles I post about reveal nothing more than an aspect of my blogger persona, pithy and witty as I hope it may be.

So, right, where was I? Oh yeah, the problem with blogging.

Bottom line: it's not private. I know I don't always think as carefully as I should about how what I might say here, or in a comment on another blog, or on some other forum, under some other name, might get back to me. I hope I don't have this deep, dark, mean core at the center of me, that makes "mistakes" sometimes, deliberately hurting people I care about with the words I choose. I really, really hope I don't. Most days, I try to be nice, Snarky, sure, but that's a kind of love.

For me, there's another level as well, where I'm using this blog professionally, to a degree, while deliberately keeping it away from professional contacts in (one of) my chosen fields. It's a sort of Rubik's Cube, or Mobius Strip, how I try sometimes to keep one side of my life from the other, and other times, dangle dangerously close to all of them colliding. So I can call this my "personal" blog, but I'm not about to post any mean, biting comments about someone I met recently. There are things I talk to my best friend about, and neither one of us post them on our blogs.

Doyce quoted a common problem with blogging, "I hate having to edit myself on my blog. It's MY blog." And yet, aren't we ALWAYS editing ourselves? Think of the words you'd use with your friends that you'd never say in front of your parents, the conversation you have with your sister that you'd never have with your boss -- now imagine every person that COULD be reading your blog, or listening in to your conversation, lurking over your shoulder. If you don't want them to hear, don't say it.

Because the other thing about blogs, or LiveJournals, or MySpace pages -- which I think Doyce touched on briefly, but it bears repeating -- they can live foreverrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. When you win that Oscar, or write that bestseller, or raise that amazing kid and let him have a computer of his own... they can find you.

Yeeks. When I put it that way, I better go look at my archives. I think I use the word "Woot!" way too much for a respectable literary agent.

Flip That House, Not The Channel

Been wondering why your favorite ktbuffy is so addicted to home redecorating, design, and organization shows? Wonder no longer! Go read all about it on Divine Caroline!

I'm having a lot of fun with these pieces -- not just the stories, which are always great to have readers for -- but the articles, too. I'm stretching my wings, so to speak, trying out a sort of Glamour-esque, Cosmo Girl kind of voice that isn't entirely me, but is a magazine-y persona. It's not like writing for my blog, which is more personal, I think. There's something glossy, and thus, a little slippery about magazine-style writing. Shiny and superficial.

And to that end, (speaking of superficial!) I'd love to get paid for this kind of writing, so I ask again -- drop by Divine Caroline as often as you can. Click on one of my articles. Do it all again the next day, and you can help me rake in the big bucks, someday. Ah, that ethereal "someday."

Truly Divine!

Also, fictional! Check out "Margot Tremont Had An Itch." Some of you may recognize it from our second Storyball, but I'd be very grateful if you'd click on over anyway. And, maybe I suggest, recommend that others click too? There's lots of interesting stuff to read -- not just mine. (Although I'm partial to all of mine.) A little tease:

Kentucky was just a thing to travel through in order to get to Memphis, Tennessee. To get to Graceland. She holed up in the Heartbreak Hotel across the road from Elvis's house, and took the tour with appropriate awe. Still, it felt... small, she thought. Margot had expected something grander. He was the King, wasn't he? On the way out of town, heading into Arkansas, she passed a shining black pyramid by the river and thought he ought to have lived there. That would have been better.

More to come!

I'm back, baby. Yeah!

And with good news, too! Doyce got to share it first, because he didn't break HIS blog with all the live posting last night. Anyway, woot! And I should be sharing more links to some fun Divine Caroline articles and stories soon, at which point I'm going to ask you all to start clicking madly, and telling all your friends to click madly, so I look very very popular. (And I can maybe make some money from it.) Stay tuned!

Also, it might have gotten overlooked in all my Oscar posts yesterday, but don't miss my latest round of "Advice from an Agent"!

How Divine! Part Two!

Want something great to read? Check me out!

Four more of these little postings coming in the next few weeks.

Playing on both sides of the business

Looks like it's back to the drafting table for HtDaS, with another revision forthcoming. It gets better every time though -- or so I think.

In other news, I'll be at the SCBWI Winter Conference tomorrow, and somewhat out of touch. Looking forward to touching base with lots of fellow agents and editors I know, particularly at tomorrow night's VIP cocktail party. Woot!

I feel like I should provide some patented Advice From An Agent on the occasion, but all I can do is tell you what I hope for: that no writer corners me to tell an endless synopsis of their epic novel, "the next Harry Potter," and forces pages on me. Except that I hope to get some reading done of my own on the subway rides to and from the conference, I was thinking of not even bringing a tote bag, to make it easier to refuse material. I must remember business cards, though. But those fit in my purse.

Don't burn down the internets in my absence.

How Divine!

Check it out, my lovelies! My first piece is up on Divine Caroline, here. Enjoy! Make lots of links. Tell all your friends!

More soon!

Zoom!

The days just fly by, and are not likely to get any less speedy in the coming weeks, since I just found out today that I'll be going to the London Book Fair in April. Oh, you say, poor ktbuffy, your life is so hard, jetsetting around Europe. And sure, if you look at it that way, it's pretty sweet. On the OTHER hand, in addition to all the work for my current domestic clients, including a fab new one I've just signed, and all my usual work in the foreign markets, I have to arrange a very heavy schedule of meetings and prepare for them, getting notes from my colleagues, making sure I'm up on all the current books (not just mine) and basically doing a ton of work. It's a good thing I love my job, that's all I'll say.

So, not that I've been the world's best blogger lately ANYWAY, but it's likely to be even more sporadic. At least I'll have a bunch of articles going up on Divine Caroline soon, so you can get a fix there if you need one!