Ooo I'm So Excited!

March 18th-27th 2014 (As of April 6th I've added some pictures to make this epic less overwhelming.)

It was warm enough out to ditch the coat a couple days last week!

Happy Springtime at last!

Sort of. It dipped down again later this week but I'm hopeful enough that my heavy winter coat is safe and sound at home, and it has evolved to trench coat weather for the time being. And to answer the question you undoubtedly have, yes. I look awesome.

While I've been mostly reading manuscripts, mailing out books to authors and reviewers, and totally annihilating the next two weeks' worth of social media scheduling, there's also something pretty gosh darn exciting happenings this week in the DAW office.

BINGE READING.

Okay, that's not the exciting part. But if it's any indication to you from the last time I binge read...it means we got DAW authors in the office.

Over the weekend I almost slaved over Patrick Rothfuss' Name of the Wind, which I finished Monday and then started on Diana Rowland's My Life as a White Trash Zombie (which is hilarious, full puns as well as badassery, and finish-able in only a few hours). Laura Resnick's  Disappearing Nightly is the last one I need to read, and so far so good! I do have to admit I didn't even try with the fourth book. The other author I wasn't positive would come in--he did of course--but he writes SF about the same size as Patrick Rothfuss' Kingkiller books, and there was just not enough time for it. I'll get around to it eventually I'm sure, but I won't have appreciated meeting him as much as I would have had I read his work beforehand. Ah well.

But yes! That DOES indeed mean that I met Patrick Rothfuss. He has a pretty glorious beard, and all around he's a nice dude. I thought ahead and made cookies this week to help relieve stress of that many people mulling about.

I was so proud of myself for finishing his book before he showed up--and actually the coolest part of the book for me is really underwhelming for other people, but my favorite quote of the whole book is:

"You have the sweetest face...it's like the perfect kitchen...

 Everything matches and the sugar bowl is right where it should be."

I ADORE this line! It suits me perfectly, and I've already gotten a demand from my friend Miss S (the teacher-to-be) that I say this to a future lover. I sincerely hope he's at least read the book first, but it's not a deal-breaker if he hasn't. Just a project. (Kidding. ...almost.)

You know what I found out about this line on the second or third glance that makes it so much cooler than it already is? It's on page 626 of the mass market copy of Name of the Wind. Why is that significant? 6/26 is my birthday. Favorite quote. Birthday number. Coincidence? Yes. But I get by on the little things, and this one is stupendous.

The office also got in new computers, which was exciting--a little too much so in some respects. For some reason when they transferred the files, my username profile was the only one that got everything copied to the new computer. That is a much less significant username to transfer than, say, the accountant who uses the same computer. Oh yeah. That got fun. But they figured it out, so nobody dies yet.

Sales also sent out a call for those Title Info sheets for books through 2015--so books that don't all have synopsis yet, got to write out some sheets to express why they deserve to be published. They're allowed to be a work-in-progress, so that's good. The other TI sheet though, that one is for a reprint for something older than the online database. So it required some actual file hunting. The good news is that I retyped all that out, so it should be in the server now in case it needs found again. It makes me feel like a kind of mundane detective...

I repeat: the little things.

The coffee run also got a little more exciting, because this time it included a quick pop over to Papyrus to pick up a sensible card for an author and long time friend of one of the editors. Tasteful, but also some nerdy reference to the book. (It's perfect. And a lovely short cut through Washington Square Park, complete with scenic birds.)

On the way to work, too, an elderly woman and her little dog stopped me to say how much she LOVED my style! I didn't have it in me to tell her I was still in my black converse walking shoes, and not my office shoes that actually went with the outfit of bright red stockings, shin-length black skirt, heart blouse, houndstooth coat, flower clip, blue sunglasses, and neon green headphones. She said "You're such an individual!" I thanked her and replied, "Welcome to New York!" She informed me that she'd lived here her whole life, and I was "Not run-of-the-mill". Huh. Whatever the reasons, spirits were high and I felt quite stylish. I still changed into my office shoes.

And, at around 4 o'clock, I get this text from my mom that my dad was getting back from Norway that night and if I made it home for dinner she'd cover my ticket. I threw on some speedy music, and I've never walked back so fast. Great food, my own bed, my own shower, my own cat--and my parents were cool too, I guess. (Kidding. Maybe.)

My dad got me a Norwegian cookbook. Most of it's fish, and I don't know when exactly I'd get to the elk sandwiches, but I'm game to try if I find it! This going home in the middle of the week thing also gave me a taste of the commuter's life. I got up at 6:30 instead of 8:00, and I was not quite 5 minutes late. Not bad considering I'd missed the train I intended to be on and stopped off at the house before coming, but still. 6:30? Gross. Not for me if I can help it.

Torn Page is basically the same, but they've got all this fancy camera equipment in there now, so it feels like an actual set. I've sat in front of the camera a bit too, because it means more stuff to wire up and make sure works before the students show up. Mostly that means I'm rambling out anecdotes until the mic works.

Recreationally, I was trying to spend as much time with my Kalamazoo friends as possible since they left this week.

That meant two final shows (I'm at 9 out of 10 now! BAM. And that comedy show I bought tickets for in the first week that I haven't gone to yet. Soon...), Sherlock, and some good ol' Dallas BBQ. No seriously, there's a Dallas BBQ down the street I'd been dying to go to for the longest time, and nobody would go with me. Turns out Miss Techie-mazoo had been having the same problem. Problem solved: we went together. And it was delicious, of course. What really set the mood, though, was this guy who literally threw things at people when he didn't get the only thing he ordered that existed no where on the menu. I'm talking plates, foot, the chair, and the table got thrown. Not far, but enough that the table a couple inches closer to this guy than we were, was in the "splash zone". The restaurant called the cops on him, but ended up throwing him out themselves since he got too rowdy. It's a little sad, because I'm almost positive he wasn't all there, but part of me also hopes it was an elaborate ruse for him to get a free meal from the rest of what he'd ordered. He wasn't wealthy looking, but this wasn't an expensive place depending what you got. If it was a ruse, good show, sir! Rude, but well done. And they gave us free cupcakes. I don't know if that's a usual thing for this Dallas BBQ place, but I'll take it.

The first show I saw over the weekend was Techie-mazoo's show that she helped do lights and stuff for. It's called The Witchelor, and it makes fun of The Batchelor if that show ever met up with Sabrina and Carrie. It was a one act in a black box theatre, and I almost didn't make it in because they were sold out. By lucky happenstance, we both got in free and it was hilarious. A witch goes on The Batchelor and tries to fit in as she falls in love with the leading man, but when he falls in love with her back, the other girls find out her secret and in a jealous rage try to reenact a Salem witch hunt to get her out and away from Jason, whom they fear is under her spell.

The second show was out on Coney Island, and the fire eater from the house was in it. He didn't eat fire this time, though. He juggled and did some neat tricks to ooo and ahhh the crowd. Good as he was, he got schooled by this 9 year old ginger with a bow tie and six balls he juggled at once. Dang. Not to mention an absolutely adorable six year old Asian magician named Moonlight who made balls disappear under a series of cups. She wasn't just cute either. She was actually really good!

The show did make me wonder how weird it is being one of the acrobats at a young age. The fire eater was the oldest, just making the cut-off of "under 21" by about a month. Most of the performers were between 11 and 16. Much of the cast was dubbed "jailbait" specifically because performer clothes, like for acrobats, accentuate the body since that's what does the flipping and twirling and twisting and making whatever shapes it is that bodies are not meant to make. And a lot of the movements are fluid and should be sexy, except...the kid's 11. Talented as anything, but...you're 11. The glitter is lovely, but where are your pants?

It was still a really fun show, and the trip even came with an outing to get some NYC pizza. Yum!



You wanna know my favorite part of the weekend, though? Well I'm gonna tell you anyway.

THE NYC TEA AND COFFEE FESTIVAL!

I got there 10 minutes early, and the line already almost covered the whole perimeter of the block. And that's after tickets sold out. Right? But I loved it! No one else in the house ended up going, but I didn't mind. It's the Comic Con of caffeinated beverages, both of which I love, and I was there for several hours. It was about halfway through that I'd realized I had only eaten/drunk caffeinated beverages, and many of them. Why not when they're free? You walk in and are handed a goody-bag already with free stuff in it. Then pretty much every stall set up has another sample for you, and multiples of them. What makes it differ from reports I've seen of Comic Con, is that instead of smelling like nerdy sweaty bodies, it smelled like a tea and coffee shop plus nirvana. Right? And they had a crepe stand in the back!

Some how I'm going to be around the next time this happens and go for the whole weekend. I'll need to save up, though, because I ended up buying almost $60 of tea to build into my arsenal. Oops. It'd be a shame except I regret nothing and tea has a shelf life of forever until you drink it all. But still...and on top of $20 tickets? Should've gotten tickets earlier. Then they at least would've been half price. Ah well. Next year!

And this weekend, get ready: rainy though it may be, I'm busing off to DC to visit Captain Cadaver in her natural habitat.

I Swear the Lapse in Posts is Unintentional

March 10th-March 17th, 2014

Well, for starters, HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY! No really. It's a fun day. Once in high school some random woman wanted to buy me a drink because I have an Irish name. She didn't though because 1, high school; 2, we were no where near a bar; and 3, even if she had bought me a St. Patty's Drink I had never seen her before and my mild paranoia would not allow me to ingest gifts from her, no matter the holiday. People are strange.

And you know who's festive? THIS girl! I wore green and ate Lucky Charms. It may not be stumbling down the streets of NYC through a green-beer drunken haze kind of festive, but I'm good with it.

What did get a little too exciting was a mouse in our room at 3 AM this morning trying to find little crumbs to nibble in our trashcan. I think the little guy's presence broke my roommate's calm. That in mind, I sort of hope that the brand new traps in our room never go off. We are definitely going to be way more meticulous about what goes into our bins so that it doesn't attract Mickey to come back.

After work today, I met up with my adviser at O Café on 12th St. and 6th Ave.-- some pretty good cappuccinos there. The barista made the foam in the shape of a scalloped heart, and to all you purists out there, I'm not sorry to say that I add sugar. In the raw. So there. But adding sugar did mean I had to destroy the foam-art. Oh well. Doesn't matter. Had coffee. Anyways, he was checking in about my internships, and then suggested I check out the Strand Book Shop while I was nearby. I had already had a recommendation to go there from a previous NYArts student from my school, and had actually been talking to someone about needing to go there last night. So of course I had to go there.

And naturally, my wallet cried when it realized how beautiful the shop is (and to top the unfairness, it's right next to Forbidden Planet which is a big deal comic store), and then I found items that I don't need, but I must have. I bought an Old World Mythology: Myths and Legends of Europe, Africa, and Asia--really who wouldn't want to catch up on the adventures of Pwyll and the Goddess Rhiannon (page 16)? Exactly why I wanted it--and I bought a moleskin storyboard notebook which is AWESOME.

I know what some of you are thinking. "What do you need a moleskin storyboard notebook for? They're just pages covered in boxes, and besides, you're not an aspiring animator!" Well, Fun-Killers, it's an activity that makes me happy enough to spend $18 on a book that is unlikely to ever leave my desk. Besides, when my filmmaker brother gets famous maybe that'll give me an "in" to have some of those doodles go somewhere near the big screen. Or the small screen. Or any screen. It's fun regardless.

And, when I walked in, I found this poster and it's kind of great:

 



 And that's just today! Brace yourselves, friends, this is post is going to be an epic! (Epic as in long journey. Feel free to take bathroom or snack breaks. I won't feel bad.)

This weekend, a few visitors came to the city. First, my roommate's Texan parents came in and took a bunch of us to dinner at French Roast--it's a really cozy place that's not too fancy but still far from run down. And besides they've got some really good coffee there. And burgers. Don't forget burgers.

My brother was also in town because my mom had a hotel room reserved for a conference that she never ended up needing, so my brother took it instead. We had a really decent brunch, then went to see The Grand Budapest Hotel which is a very cute, beautiful, yet somewhat dark movie. It's done by the same director who did Moonrise Kingdom, and his style is written all over this movie, too. Basically that means an awesome cast, storybook cinematography with the pastel colors from the neighborhood in Edward Scissorhands, and goofy situations played with the utmost seriousness. After that, we didn't really mean to, but we ended up going back to the hotel under the pretense to pick up my brother's jacket, and we both napped through the afternoon instead and did not wake up until 5:00 pm. Oops. At least it was much needed! And it left us plenty of time to go for a long walk from 46th to SoHo for dinner at Bubby's Burgers.

I am super glad I actually got to go back to Bubby's since the first time I was there and was too full to actually try one of their burgers. I'd made plans several times before, and they just never happened. And when I got a piece of sour cherry pie, my brother had told me he wouldn't share it but he'd have a bite and promptly forgot his promise and ate at least half of it. It was that good. Captain Cadaver (remember her?) she is a super taster. That means that her taste buds are more sensitive than your average person, and she can take a bite of a thing and pretty much tell you exactly what's in it. I immediately wanted this power while eating that pie. Oh well.

After, we walked over to Union Square Theatre where we saw a show that was originally described to me as "naked Cirque du Soliel". That is of course an exaggeration. The performers had at least spandex booty shorts at all times. But I would still go as far as to call it a "Sexy Circus". The ring master introduced one of the acrobats with "And this one goes out to all you ladies out there...and from the looks of the audience, probably quite a few of you men, as well!" The routine was an extremely chiseled and attractive man wearing jeans only and sitting in a bathtub while a rope was lowered from the fly lines, and he used it to hoist himself up to do all these really awesome (and intentionally sexy) acrobatics that included a splash zone. There were no pictures allowed of the actual performance, but here at least is a look at the space it's in:

Now back to Captain Cadaver, she and Booth came up to visit on Monday for spring break. So when I got off work we three met up for dinner. Mostly that meant meandering around SoHo in the direction of the house and stopping to ogle a menu if a place looked interesting enough.

The place that looked most "interesting enough" was The Meatball Shop. The Meatball Shop allows you to build your own meatball meal whether that means between bread or on top of something like pasta, whichever decision with your choice of sauce. And there were puns everywhere about "balls". For instance, if you want to add an egg to your meatball sandwich, that option is called adding the "family jewels". If you don't get it, good on you--stay pure. But that is precisely what I ordered, and look at that beauty (and a salad! See? Healthy.) :

I will be visiting the Cap'n and Booth in DC at the end of the month. It's gonna be awesome. I've already been promised a fieldtrip to Baked and Wired; it's a delicious cupcake place that is better than Georgetown Cupcakes or something.

The days between those adventures, involved Torn Page setting up the classroom with higher camera tech and movie lights so it actually felt like a set, several manuscripts and reviews at DAW, and a farewell to the Kalamazoo students on Wednesday. They actually had another week after that, Wednesday was just so there was little stress and a party in the basement for them to show off their final projects.

And actually there was more to DAW this week than what "several manuscripts and reviews" suggests. For starters, I was shown the Penguin Employee Bookstore. It's pretty much exactly what it sounds like, and we get pretty decent discounts on whatever is in there. Whether I want a Penguin sweatshirt for $10, a mascot plushie for $11, or actual books for...well, I don't remember the percentage off. I think it may be about 60%.

AND.

I went to my first ever sales pitch! It was much briefer than I had imagined. Each editor pitches her own book, which makes sense, and then the sales people nod or ask questions. And you feel super connected when people are like "Oh yeah, I can get Barnes&Noble on the phone no problem." I'm paraphrasing. But still. A cartoon would have her set in a high backed chair at an enormous desk, petting a fluffy white cat with a sly grin on her face, a big cigar sticking out of her mouth, and some pretty awesome looking aviators to reflect just how many connections she's really got. Like to Barnes&Noble. Oh yeah.

AND.

I got to check out a TOTALLY TOP SECRET MANUSCRIPT. I mean, that's why publishing houses are so big. They're full of secrets.

But in all seriousness, I was asked to take a look because I hadn't read any of this author's other stuff before. So that pretty much meant that for the first several pages, I was quite lost. I was the only one in the office with zero idea who this character is or where the character is or why the character is there. I like to think I caught on pretty well to who the character is supposed to be and the gist of the location. It was written well, and I even got to scribble notes in the margins in my fancy-pants red pen! But the author's other books are definitely on my reading list. It'll be interesting to get to know the character after this first, backwards glimpse.

So there is the epic that was this past week. Until next time!

Another Lovely Weekend in the Neighborhood

March 8th-9th, 2014

Before I talk about yesterday's Family-Mine Shenanigans on Broadway, I want to acknowledge why today is a very particular happy occasion and a big part of who I am today.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!!!!!!!!

That's right! It's my father's 55th birthday! And without this special day, I wouldn't be me! And I kind of like being me. So it's a pretty big deal.

And in honor of the joyous occasion, the whole immediate family plus my brother's friend--who looks a lot like Dean from Brad Bird's Iron Giant, but with a little more beard--all came to NYC to celebrate and see Aladdin on Broadway. It's still in previews, so I didn't get my dad the CD like initially planned for his present, specifically for the reason that being in previews means that the CD hasn't even been recorded yet. I ended up getting him the soundtrack to Cinderella since that was the last show we saw together.

I love all things Disney--most of all, their animated stuff--and Aladdin is definitely one of their classics. I loved being able to see this show; the costumes were fun, the whole experience great, and I think my dad had a really good birthday. See? Look how happy he is! Poppa Shash and me and Aladdin! (Photo courtesy of Momma Shash.)

But, if you can only see one Disney on Broadway and are torn between Aladdin, Lion King, or Beauty and the Beast, then I'd wait on Aladdin and see one of the other two. Shows can change a lot if you give them a few years, and even though Aladdin is super fun and I'm not saying DON'T see it, I don't think it's quite as ready as the other two. They are different from the movies, and so is Aladdin, and they have more songs and great voices, costumes, staging, etc...but above all, they have a level of seamless-ness to them that Aladdin doesn't yet. Although the magic carpet scene is freaking amazing AND the original voice actor of Jafar, Jonathan Freeman, has come back 18 years later to play the wicked sorcerer on stage. He was lovely--and surprisingly a very white man.  

We also took advantage of the gorgeous weather to walk along the High Line. The High Line used to be a railroad track. Now, it's a really pretty second level of road to walk on and be surrounded with art and commissioned graffiti panted on the surrounding buildings. In ideal weather like this weekend, this is a gorgeous place to meander, albeit a bit crowded because everyone else feels the same way. I ended up going back by myself today, too.

After, we went to the Chelsea Market and picked up a snack at Sarabeth's Bakery (freaking awesome cheesecake and crazy delicious creme brulee--high expectations, I know, but I love what I ate and I'd go back for more another day) while waiting for my brother and his friend to go get pizza at Artichoke Pizza down the block. (Also delicious, by the way.) 

After the show, my parents and I went to a coffee shop. Remember when I said I wanted to write a children's book for my final project? Momma Shash took a look at one of the early drafts, and talked about it with me over a mocha and a Diet Coke. In my experience, I have never had someone make my papers and grammar bleed red ink more than this woman, which is why I hold inhuman standards for anyone else who offers to edit my work. It's fine. I don't hold it against them!

I have a lot more work to do on it, and now I have a clear direction to go. Or clearer, and I'm okay with that.

Before my parents drove back, we went to Friedman's for dinner. Mildly pricey, but they had really good food and were super nice about letting my mom and I split a meal. They split it up on separate plates aesthetically for us instead of handing us an extra one to divvy up the food ourselves, and didn't charge us extra. We also ended up running into the family of a kid I went to high school with. Given how many people are all crowded into the space that is NYC, I am consistently surprised how many times I seem to come across people that I know. I wonder who I'll find next? I hope they're famous. Then I'd be proud of myself for recognizing their face out of context. Normally I'm REALLY bad at that. I'd totally never realize Clark Kent was Superman. At best I may think "Wow, they sort of look similar. Go, Clark!" 

I'm late! I'm late! For a series of updates!

February 26th-March 7th, 2014 (March 8th and 9th will have their own post tomorrow)

...No time to say "I know, my bad!" I'm late! I'm late! I'm late!

Seriously though. I feel sorta bad for not having blogged over the course of the past ten days. So here it goes...the saga of my week and a half--and no, much like the Game of Thrones television series, it won't be in order chronologically.

I did watch at least some of The Oscars, and for those of you who didn't and were unaware of John Travolta's name-flub, he ended up introducing Idina Menzel (Broadway goddess and the voice of Elsa from Disney's latest Frozen, of which won a couple Oscars for being totally awesome) as "Adele Dazeem". Within 24 hours, there was already a name-generator site where you can enter your name and it will tell you how John Travolta would mess it up. I am Seonaidh Doon. Not a clue how that first bit is supposed to be pronounced, but regardless it does the job of absolutely not being my name.*

Check out what yours is: http://slate.me/1kPwk1H 

*Looked it up. Apparently it's been Anglicized to "Shoney". A Celtic water spirit or something. Them Celts, man. For not having had a written language, they sure troll the phonetics in the English alphabet.

Speaking of foreign things, Torn Page was overrun with Danes last week. Really nice Danes, too! Statistically it's the happiest place on earth, even though they have some of the highest tax percentages, too.

Normally there are only 2-4 actors in a class, but I walked in and there might have been around ten extra people in there? Clark had worked with some of them in Denmark once before, so now they were visiting and bringing friends. I got to act for the first time this week, too. Just int he last five minutes, but ti was a fun exercise. Just a few lines:

A: Where were you?
B: I was here.
A: You were?
B: I was.
A: You sure?
B: I am.

And we're given some scenarios, like your boyfriend is throwing a surprise party and you're suspicious. Or your sister is accusing you of...something. It's fun.

And at one point, every single one of these Danes--from generally chilly Scandinavia--all got cold enough in the building to put on scarves and sweaters during the break. They must have had a weird sixth sense, too, because the next day class was canceled because the heating broke. Oops. I do feel kind of boss not having put on my own sweater when our Scandinavian guests needed theirs.

Heh. The cold never bothered me anyway...

My new favorite Youtube thing is Idina Menzel singing "Let it Go" with Jimmy Fallon using children's toys as instruments. It's fabulous: http://bit.ly/1djJcvt

Last weekend, I ended up hopping a train to Rutgers to go visit friends and play an RPG (role playing game, i.e. Dungeons&Dragons, World of Darkness, Dresden, etc. Basically I make a character with a personality and a background and someone else gives me a scenario and with the created characters of my friends, we get to tell a story about how we deal with said scenario. It usually involves killing monsters or something). Since my friend has a quarter-free laundry machine and dryer, it was absolutely not beyond me to bring my giant laundry backpack and do it there while we watched a couple of Disney movies on Netflix. He'd never seen Atlantis before, and we both hadn't seen Aristocats in years. The latter used to be one of my favorite movies, and I still have it on VHS. Super old school, I know. We also may or may not have had a singalong to the Frozen soundtrack. I regret nothing.

Also got the chance while I was there to 1, see a friend from high school that I hadn't seen...well, since high school scenic design, and had a delicious but unfortunately priced brunch at Old Man Raffery's; and 2, had my first ever Rutgers grease truck experience!

It's pretty much exactly what it sounds like. A truck. Cooks with a ton of grease. Throws whatever it is between two slices of bread. Hands the heart attack sandwich to the buyer and the buyer leaves happy, if not a little bit fatter. Apparently the menus on the trucks are all the same, but it's the style of cooking it that's unique depending which truck you get. That could mean quantity of sandwich, could mean kind of bread, etc. Reminds me a little of Hoagie Haven in Princeton, though.

In DAW news, a bunch of things have been happening, even if it might not seem like a lot to most of you. I sent out packages of 15 different books to the judges of the Fantasy Awards this year, and the editors had a few straight days locked in an office organizing royalties for the past six months or so of books. It seems like some seriously arduous business given how battle-worn everyone looks when they emerge from the office for coffee. But it is a necessary thing. E'rybody likes getting paid the right amount they're owed.

I was also shown the makings of rejection letters. Surprisingly not as depressing as they sound. In retrospect, DAW publishes between 50 and 60 books a year. Half of those are reprints from hardcover to paperback, which means only 25-30 are actually new books, and most of those are new books in a series, and most of the remaining books are new from authors DAW has already worked with before. That means that new-author-new-books are much harder to get a hold of, and for a small company like DAW, the editors have to seriously weigh how much time they have to give to a manuscript verses how much they seriously want it. They've already promised their time via contract for X number of books from preexisting authors. And since they've only got two editors...well, yeah. It's rough. The silver lining is when there is no telling when these promised manuscripts will actually come in--editors don't want them until they're ready, so it leaves some gaps in the schedule. Like, for new authors, even if there aren't a lot of them.

Seanan McGuire came back into the office last week, too. The more I talk to her the better I like her, even though I've also determined that she's sort of awesomely insane. I'm talking the method actor of authors. She likes to know what things feel like so she can describe it...I respect that. A lot. But what that means for her is shoving her hand in an Australian meat eating ant mound to see what it feels like when they bite. Or signing a waiver to get bit by a bullet ant and stung by a Japanese hornet. Or researching which parasites don't kill you, putting it in your body for some days until you get the research you want, and then getting it removed. Twice because the first time it didn't take.

Given the nature of her books, specifically the InCryptid series, it makes total sense and when I read those I will take zero descriptions of violence and feelings of pain for granted because I'm sure she knows, but it's still insane. Badass, but...not for me. Ever. I hate bugs. And pain is just unfortunate.

She did buy us donuts though. Which was fantastic.

I also finished reading a couple of manuscripts--not even the 50-100 pages that I read before making a report, but the whole thing. Because I wanted to; I legitimately loved these manuscripts enough to keep reading. And because of that, I may get to practice writing a five minute pitch. If the editors have already nixed the books, then it's just practice. If they haven't...well, I might get a shot to say why these guys are some pretty awesome candidates if they want to take a second look at them before decision making time. Which is AWESOME. But nerve wracking. I can't wait!

One of the best parts of my week though, was a conversation with my supervisor about job hunting in publishing. She wanted to know if I was thinking about pursuing it, and you know, I think I am. Whenever I talk about it I get this stupid grin on my face--and maybe that's because I'm working with science fiction and fantasy (SFF) books, but I do think I love it! I had just worried that whatever jobs are open post graduation are ones that I'm not qualified for. She looked at me and said, "What do you mean 'not qualified'--you're super qualified!" And proceeded to Google search book jobs and found a handful that are all entry level (which are the key words for me to be "qualified") and there it was. She said "See? You already do a lot of this stuff now anyway..." There's hope for me yet!

In the meantime, I've decided that my final project is going to be a children's story! My current problem is that I'm about 500 words over the technical 2,000 word limit...but I'm working on it, and trying to make the language tighter, and I'm really excited about it. My goal is to get it at a place where I can submit it at the end of the semester somewhere. Fingers crossed!